Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on recruitment to initial teaching training courses of all university providers only recruiting applicants with a 2.1 degree or higher.

Teaching is a graduate profession. We do not stipulate a minimum degree class for trainee teachers; however, initial teacher training providers have the freedom to set their own entry requirements. Through the use of bursaries, we encourage those with a higher degree class to enter teaching. Details of bursaries for those beginning courses in 2017/18 can be found here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-and-salary/overview

The degree class of current postgraduate trainees is provided in Tables 2 and 2a in the Main tables section on:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2016-to-2017.

It includes a breakdown by subject and route.