DEAF children are the only pupils in Scottish schools being taught by teachers with poorer communication skills than their own, Holyrood's education committee has heard.

Currently, teachers who support deaf pupils only have to achieve the most basic levels of British Sign Language (BSL) before being allowed into the classroom.

Colin Spivey, team leader with the Scottish Government's learning directorate, told the committee there were no plans to increase qualification levels because it was preferable to expand the available pool of teachers rather than introducing "constraints".

But Stewart Maxwell, an SNP MSP and convener of the education committee, told Mr Spivey he was "rather taken aback by that comment".

He said: "I cannot think of any other subject where we would accept that the teacher was less able than the pupil in terms of their ability to communicate with each other.

"I cannot think of a parent anywhere in Scotland who would find it acceptable that their child was more able than their teacher within the public sector education system.

"The idea that somehow it is placing a constraint on the recruitment of teachers by making sure they are adequately qualified to teach those children seems to be a bizarre statement to have made."

However, Mr Spivey said the Scottish Government were not "hearing noises from the system" that there were insufficient qualified teachers.

He said: "There is no evidence coming back through the system, either through inspection or through what we are hearing centrally from local authorities, that there is a shortage of teachers.

"However, clearly the numbers have gone down and we need to understand whether that is because there is less demand or there is a real impact that needs to be looked at."

The committee also discussed concerns that too many deaf and blind pupils were being pushed into college courses after leaving school rather than securing a job or going on to higher education.

Mr Maxwell said: "It does, at the very least, concern me slightly that there is the risk that young people with a sensory impairment have been put into college courses for the wrong reasons... and have been circulating in the college sector rather than getting on and getting out into the world of work."

Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages, told the committee he accepted pupils with sensory issues were over-represented in the college sector, but added: "They have done very well in that sector."