THE Tories’ plans for teaching apprenticeships are a “noisy distraction” that would put standards at risk, education unions warned today.

The Department for Education has announced a pilot scheme for four-year, cost-free apprenticeships, which would allow would-be teachers to earn as they learn.

Apprentices would spend about 40 per cent of their time studying for their degree with an accredited teacher-training provider, while also gaining experience in the classroom.

National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede said the government’s announcement reflected a “wilful refusal” to deliver the reforms needed to address the sector’s recruitment crisis.

“The teaching apprenticeship programme is an acknowledgement of the crisis in teacher recruitment but is the wrong way to address it,” he said.

“The NEU wants to see more teachers in schools as an absolute priority, but it is essential that professional standards are maintained and that new entrants to the profession are fully qualified before they embark on the early career stage of their practice.

“The apprenticeship scheme puts those standards at risk, placing underqualified and inexperienced teachers into classrooms.”

Mr Kebede branded the announcement a “noisy distraction” and accused ministers of “a wilful refusal to see the obvious problems” besetting teacher recruitment and retention. 

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of fellow teaching union NASUWT, said: “Today’s announcement looks like another stab in the dark from a government that appears increasingly out of touch with the realities facing the teaching profession.”

“After 14 years of government neglect, schools deserve better than a sticking-plaster policy which offers no remedy to the underlying causes of today’s teacher supply crisis.”

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson dismissed the measures as “mere window dressing.”