PLANS to radically reform teacher training in England and Wales could have a major impact on the financial viability of the University of Cumbria, a leading academic has claimed.

Dr Samantha Twiselton, executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, said the Government’s Education White Paper — which includes dropping funding for graduates without a 2:2 and shifting training to ‘specialist teaching schools’ rather than universities —would lead to a big drop in student numbers.

The University of Cumbria provides the second highest number of newly-qualified teachers in Europe and around 800 of the university’s 2,496 trainee teachers are graduates.

“We’re very worried about what this will mean for the university, especially since 60 per cent of our intake is trainee teachers,” said Dr Twiselton.

“The White Paper still needs to be voted on but these prop-osals are the most radical I’ve experienced in my career.”

While the entry requirement for a post-graduate certificate in education (PGCE) is a 2:2, the university does accept students with a third who demonstrate life experience related to teaching.

They also run a specialist primary PGCE aimed at mature students changing career which does not require a 2:2.

“If you stop funding people with thirds, you potentially block many talented teachers from the profession,” said Dr Twiselton.

“Teaching is an intellectual endea-vour but it requires organisation, time man-agement and a sense of vocation. Not all of these things can be measured through a degree.”

The worse case scenario for the university would be if the Government pulled both sources of funding to teaching students — the bursary paid directly to each student and funding of around £6,000 per student paid by the Training and Dev-elopment Agency to the univer-sity.

“The Government’s plans are vague but if they pull funding entirely for those without a 2:2, the sheer affordability of the qualification would be called into question.

"I’m sure many students won’t be able to afford to become teachers,” she said. She also has concerns about the future of the university if they try to move training into schools.

“Cumbrian primaries are quite small and often rurally dispersed.

"That they could take on teacher training themselves is nonsensical,” she said.