A degree of doubt over Vorderman teaching maths

TV PRESENTER Carol Vorderman is a "wonderful and exceptional person", shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said yesterday.

But he ducked questions over whether she could become a maths teacher under Tory proposals barring anyone without a 2:2 degree or better from teaching.

Last week Tory leader David Cameron said he would take a "brazenly elitist" approach to the school system and third-class degrees would no longer be good enough for those wanting to enter postgraduate teacher training courses.

Critics pointed out that Vorderman, who leads a maths taskforce for the Conservative Party, got a third in engineering.

Pressed on how she would be affected by Tory plans, Mr Gove said: "I'm delighted to say that I think Carol is an exceptional person who has done a great deal to improve understanding of maths, but I always wanted to talk about the importance of raising the bar on the teaching profession."