Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on whether academies will be able to employ unqualified teachers when all schools become academies.

Since August 2012, the funding agreements for all new academies has given the academy trust the freedom to employ anyone it believes is suitably qualified or is otherwise eligible to plan and prepare lessons and courses for pupils, teach pupils, and assess and report on pupils’ development, progress and attainment. Academies set up prior to this date can apply to the Education Funding Agency to have their funding agreement amended.

As set out in our White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, we will replace Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with a stronger, more challenging accreditation based on a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, as judged by great schools. This new accreditation will raise the quality and status of the teaching profession, better recognising advanced subject knowledge and pedagogy that is rooted in up-to-date evidence, ensuring the highest quality of teaching is paramount to the success of each school. Headteachers know this, which is why we trust them to employ staff that they believe to be best qualified for the job – including whether to make this accreditation a mandatory requirement or not, considering how to weigh it against other qualifications and experience the potential teacher may bring.