APPLICATIONS to teacher training are up a fifth for primary postgraduate courses and a quarter for secondary in England Numbers have risen even more in Wales, where primary applications are up more than half and secondary up 23 per cent.
But opposition MPs are warning that the Government will still fall short of its recruitment targets in maths, despite a 28 per cent rise in the number of students applying for courses.
Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: “The Government is self-congratulatory about the rise in applications but fails to admit that between 1997 and 2000 there was a decline of 4,410 teachers completing training courses.
“The figures for 2002 may show an increase in the overall number of graduates applying for teacher training, but at current levels the Government will again fail to meet its own recruitment target.”
The percentage increase in maths translates so far into a rise of 139 applications to 630. Allowing for a conservative 25 per cent drop-out rate based on previous trends, recruitment expert John Howson estimates that only around 472 will actually make it on to courses - less than a third of the 1,800 needed to fill the places.
More than half of the increase in secondary applications (up 2,296 to 11,403) is accounted for by courses which are traditionally easier to fill - English, art, physical education and history, Professor Howson added.
However, students have increasingly delayed putting in their applications until the summer or even later. Uncertainty about future financial support may also stay their hands: Wales has re-established student grants, but proposals are still awaited in England.
Karen Thornton
