Education secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed that trainee teachers who miss out on their full complement of school training hours because of school closures will still qualify as teachers.

Having announced yesterday that schools will close, Mr Williamson said he would be prepared to waive normal requirements to gain Qualified Teacher Status for trainees.

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As schools have closed, trainees may miss out on their mandatory 24 weeks of school practice that they need to qualify for QTS.

But Mr Williamson told Sky News this morning that he would be prepared to waive these requirements.

“We will be prepared to waive that - we will be working with teacher training establishments in order to do this,” he said.

He added that the government would be “starting to roll out some of the early career framework in a number of regions, which will be starting in the next academic year and right across the country the following year, to make sure new teachers are supported”.