* Seven institutions around the country are to share almost 300 teacher-training places lost when the Open University axed its primary PGCE course.
The places, reallocated by the Teacher Training Agency, will be offered part-time from April 1999 and will all have an element of supported open learning. The OU, one of the main providers of new teachers and one of only three to offer distance learning, dropped the course after failing an inspection.
The agency said 15 institutions bid for 600 places. Successful bids came from the Institute of Education, London (50 places); Liverpool Hope University (50); Sheffield Hallam University (50); University College of St Martin, Lancashire (50); College of Ripon and York St John (40); St Mary’s College, Twickenham (30); and Canterbury Christ Church College, Kent (25).