You may feel concerned to learn that your child might be taught by someone without a recognised teaching qualification. There are approximately 17,000 unqualified teachers working in schools in England which is just under 4% of the total teaching workforce.

The government believes that it is essential that schools have the freedom to employ whom they want to teach in their schools and it is certainly true that some unqualified teachers offer outstanding teaching and learning opportunities to the children in their classes. In theory, you must have a teaching qualification to teach in a local authority school whereas this is not always the case in an academy or a free school. However, in 2013 there were more than 9,000 teachers working in local authority schools in England. Many schools may often have unqualified teachers working in specialist subjects like music, sport, art or minority foreign languages.

Parents, however, may understandably feel concerned if they think unqualified teachers are employed solely as a cost-cutting exercise. Salaries for qualified teachers start at around £22,000 p/a whilst an unqualified teacher may earn as little as £16,000 a year.