UNIVERSITIES will no longer be the only bodies able to train Scottish teachers under controversial proposals.

The Scottish Government has unveiled plans to fund a new course aimed at other providers.

The initiative is being launched to address shortages in key subject areas such as science.

There is also a view that traditional university-based training programmes do not provide the flexibility required to attract individuals who are working in industry and want a career change.

Concerns were raised following the announcement that the government might be considering an approach adopted by Teach First in England where new graduates can be placed in a classroom after just a few weeks study.

However, a Scottish Government spokesman said any successful bidder would have to have a partnership with a university with courses approved by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

He said: “Developing new routes into teaching and making the training available to people from a whole range of backgrounds is key to attracting new teachers.

“We have committed £1 million from the Scottish Attainment Fund to identify and develop new ways for people to come into teaching and will shortly be putting a new initiative out to tender designed to attract high quality graduates in priority areas and subjects.

“Any new route into teaching will require a partnership with a university to maintain academic rigour.”

The GTCS, which regulates the profession, said being properly qualified would remain the benchmark for any aspiring teachers.

He added: “The principle of meeting our standards for registration before becoming a teacher will continue in Scotland.

“It is important to note that we are also working with universities to offer a range of more flexible entry options to teaching and this work will continue.”

However, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said the union would oppose any relaxation of entry rules.

He said: “We strongly oppose any approach which places delivering education cheaply above guaranteeing quality education provision for all Scotland’s young people.

“The EIS does not support any erosion of that provision nor does it believe that placing unqualified graduates in schools will lead to better or more equal outcomes for those children.

“No-one can teach in a local authority in Scotland without being registered with the GTCS and to do this you must have a degree and appropriate teaching qualification.”

Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray added: “A fully trained and qualified teaching profession has been one of the great strengths of Scottish schools for decades. This is a desperate attempt by ministers to look as if they are doing something.”

Meanwhile, a new report commissioned by Scottish universities who deliver teacher education has backed the traditional approach.

Ian Menter, emeritus professor of teacher education at Oxford University, who wrote it, said it would be a “tragedy” if Scotland bypassed universities.

He told the Times Educational Supplement Scotland: “University contribution provides the critical edge 21st-century teachers need.”