Where are all the History Teachers ?
| Published: 22nd February 2007 20:44 |
'Lack of demand' for history teachers
History teachers are in short supply, according to a new report.
Data obtained by Sarah Teather, education spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, reveals that the number of history teacher training places has gone down by 40 per cent in the past three years, the BBC reports.
While the Teacher Training and Development Agency said that the number of places had fallen due to the fact that demand had also decreased, Ms Teather said it was not the case that demand was low.
She said that a number of schools were failing to fill history teacher positions, with the current history teacher population significantly older than other departments' STAFF.
Ms Teather told the BBC: "It's so short-sighted to write off history as a low priority subject. In the next decade we are going to see the majority of history teachers hit retirement age.
"Without a real effort to get young, dynamic graduates into the classroom there's a risk of a whole generation of pupils missing out on a core plank of their education."
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