Chris Keates from teachers trade union NASUWT has expressed concern Schools in England are increasingly hiring unqualified teachers to save money, the Guardian newspaper has reported.In a teachers' poll, 59% revealed that unqualified colleagues had taught lessons, prepared pupils for exams and assessed students' progress.
Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove gave academies and free schools the permission to hire unqualified staff last year. However, his plan has not been extended to other state schools.
Chris Keates, the general-secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), told the Guardian that parents should be deeply concerned.
"Now when a parent sends their child to school they have no idea who is teaching them.
"This is part of the wider strategy [of the coalition government] to depress costs to encourage more private providers to take over schools," she said.
"If any suggestion was made that unqualified doctors were let loose on patients there would be public outrage. Why should our children and young people, the future of this country, be treated with any less concern?"