A universities leader who helped draft the refreshed teacher training framework has said his organisation cannot endorse the document.

James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (Ucet), was speaking today at a Westminster Education Forum on initial teacher training.

He said he would not endorse the framework in full and that it amounted to a “compromise”, but declined to specify which elements he would like to change.

He said: “There are things in there that we might not have put in; and there’s things not in there that we would have liked to put in.”

However, he said Ucet will continue to help people in the sector adapt to the refreshed framework, “in a way that’s consistent with their values and principles”.

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He said: “I doubt there’s anyone on the advisory group or anyone in this room or anyone within government who will not have issues with some aspect or other of the new ITE [initial teacher education] content framework.

“It was a group decision and there had to be discussion and compromise where necessary, and that’s why Ucet - we wouldn’t endorse official documents of this kind - but we don’t endorse it, because...there are things in there that we might not have put in; and there are things not in there that we would have liked to put in.”

When asked to specify which parts of the framework he considered to be problematic, Mr Noble-Rogers refused to name any particular issues - arguing that, in doing so, he would not be adequately representing the differing views held by Ucet’s members.

He added: “We think it’s something that the sector can work with, we’ll support them to work with it in a way that’s consistent with their values and principles, and a way that it can be properly critiqued.

“To that extent, we are okay with it but we are more broadly neutral on it. We are a broad church so we have to encompass a different range of perspectives.”

Mr Noble-Rogers also voiced his concerns about Ofsted’s draft inspection framework, which he said allows too little room for critical thinking.

He said he was worried that the wording in the framework - which he referred to in conjunction with the accompanying handbook - implied that research has to be approached in “an uncritical way”.

The Department for Education did not wish to comment.