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Lord Adonis was taught by a teacher who went to Oxford University. Photograph: Martin Godwin
Lord Adonis was taught by a teacher who went to Oxford University. Photograph: Martin Godwin

'Employ teachers who studied at top universities'

This article is more than 13 years old
Lord Adonis says schools need teachers who understand elite universities

Every secondary school should have teachers who attended elite universities, Lord Adonis said today.

The former schools minister said it was "very difficult" to get pupils, particularly those from poorer areas, into top universities unless their teachers had studied at those institutions too.

Addressing the Independent Academies Association (IAA) conference in central London, Lord Adonis said: "You need a good mix of teachers, of course, at any successful school, but you cannot be a successful school unless you at least have a certain proportion of your teachers who have themselves come from leading universities in to which you intend to send your best students."

He added that in his experience it is "very very difficult to send students on to top universities unless you have a certain proportion of your teachers who come from those universities themselves.

"Far too many schools, a good proportion in the bottom half of comprehensives, and still quite a few academies have no Oxbridge teachers and very few from leading universities."

Lord Adonis, who served as schools minister then as transport secretary under Labour, said he had been taught by a teacher who went to his university, Oxford, who knew the process and inspired him.

Teachers who have attended top universities know how admissions work and have good specialist subject knowledge, he said after the conference.

According to the latest official figures, just 40 students on free school meals went to Oxford or Cambridge last year.

Lord Adonis warned delegates it would not be possible to transform admissions to top universities "unless you can develop a cadre of teachers in your own schools that have that background themselves."

Academies, and other secondaries, should do "whatever it takes" in terms of dealing directly with institutions, or signing up to Teach First, he said.

Teach First is a scheme that trains top graduates from elite universities to teach in challenging secondary schools.

The scheme is recruiting 800 teachers this year, and this will grow to 1,200 by 2013/14, Lord Adonis said, meaning one in ten of all new teachers in secondary schools will be Teach First recruits.

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