UNIVERSITY leaders have hit back at claims teacher training courses are producing school staff who lack basic skills.

Dr Morag Redford, chair of the Scottish Council of Deans of Education, said the quality of teacher training programmes was subject to "exhaustive and forensic examination" and that the entry tariffs to study education in Scotland were "more than what many UK universities require for entry to law, accountancy, or architecture".

However, Dr Redford stressed that there was "no research evidence" that increasing Higher Maths to an essential entry qualification for teaching candidates "would make any difference to improving teaching and learning in the classroom".

It comes after teaching students recently told MSPs that some of their fellow students were graduating without sufficient skills to teach maths to P7 pupils. They also said there was insufficient coverage of issues such as classroom discipline, online safety and helping pupils with autism.

A Scottish Government report also showed wide variation in the amount of time university courses dedicated to basic literacy and numeracy, ranging from 89 to 44 hours for numeracy and from 173 to as little as 48 hours for literacy.

The issue of teacher training has come under the spotlight as part of an inquiry by Holyrood's education committee.

Dr Redford has outlined the views of the SCDE, the body which represents Scotland's schools of education, in a written submission to the committee.

She said that that while it was useful to heat the views of student teachers, their evidence to the committee was "subjective, individual perspectives" and "some of the information offered was factually incorrect".

Dr Redford added: "It is very common for students to feel insecure about curriculum provision and classroom management ... getting caught up in the anxiety of beginning student teachers as a policy initiative is inadvisable."

Dr Redford also stressed that there had been "no disquiet" previously from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), Scottish Government, or councils about the quality of teaching courses. She said: "These partners would not hesitate to comment on the content of our courses or the calibre of our students if there were concerns."

Of the 2,965 probationers in 2016/17, of 190 quit teacher induction schemes and 208 deferred with the intention of completing it later.

In its written evidence, the GTCS said that the "emotional, physical and mental energy it takes to turn up

every day and motivate children and young people, can simply be too much for some". Some trainee teachers "do not appreciate the level of demand of a full teaching timetable", it added.

However, it noted that some candidates had pursued teaching as a last resort. It stated: "Finally, and sadly, some see teaching as a fall-back position should they fail to secure better paid employment; this is particularly an issue with trainee teachers in the STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] subjects."