Teachers' academic qualifications

Since before the beginning of the current academic year, some correspondents have been constructing a polemic by means of columns and letters to the editor on the subject of the alternative academic routes to the teaching profession.

Whatever the merits of the individual points raised in these writings, and of the genuine or ulterior concerns of the writers, the effect of the polemic has been to confuse students by generating rumours that the future of the Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) and/or the MA/M.Sc. as a route to a teacher's warrant might be somehow in doubt.

Readers and students are advised to ignore such rumours completely.

None of those who wrote to stoke these rumours is remotely in a position to influence policy either at a University or at a government level. (Hence the need to write in the papers). No changes in connection with the PGCE may be made unless consensus is first reached among the University Faculties concerned, including, besides the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science.

Not only is there no intention of suppressing the PGCE, but it has recently been agreed that as from next year the PGCE will be held even in those subjects where the number of applicants is tiny. The "Master's" route (first degree in Science or Arts followed by a Master's degree) is likewise guaranteed to continue.

No doubt, the informal discussion over the subject of having several, ostensibly but not necessarily, competing academic routes to a teaching career will go on.

As long as the discussion stays on the level of which route should prevail over others, it is guaranteed to lead to nowhere except sterile recrimination and much misguiding of students. On the other hand, the discussion could make interesting moves forward through exploration of solutions based on a synthesis of the best elements in the current routes.