Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “The recruitment and retention crisis in education is clear for all to see, and there is no escaping the fact that it is already having an impact on schools and pupils. While we want to encourage as many people as possible into teaching, we need to take great care to ensure that we maintain our expectations when it comes to training and qualifications. NAHT is supportive of apprenticeships, but our view is that the threshold for entry onto teacher training should continue to include holding a degree. We remain very concerned about any proposals that look to truncate degrees and teacher training, as this scheme does.”