IDENTIFYING potential teachers at the earliest opportunity is the key to attracting and retaining the best people for the job, a Government select committee was told during a visit to York.

The education select committee met in a packed Guildhall yesterday to ask a panel of York head teachers what should be done to get talented people into teaching positions and retain them.

Committee member Damian Hinds, the conservative MP for East Hampshire was told by Richard Ludlow, head of Robert Wilkinson Primary in Strensall, that a good teacher should be “able to engage with young people and inspire their learning”.

He said: “One of the best ways of attracting teachers is through your own setting – for example on a teaching assistant basis.”

Fellow head teacher, Anna Cornhill, of Scarcroft Primary, said: “I think you can tell, even when somebody has worked for a short while with children, whether they are going to be an inspiration to children and work hard.”

She went on to say that “classroom presence” was something that was not allowed for in the application process.

Trevor Burton, head of Millthorpe School, told the select committee the best teachers were not necessarily those with the first class degrees.

He said: “I had a teacher who had a third class degree, but was one of the best teachers I have ever had.

“It’s the personal qualities which decide how good a teacher is.”

When asked what aspects of a career in teaching should be advertised when attracting the best applicants, Miss Cornhill said it was a job where you made a difference to a whole generation of people.

She said: “It’s very rewarding. You have your challenges, but when you see somebody catch on to something they have been struggling with then that is a magical moment.”

Conceding that teaching was now considered a well-paid career, Mr Burton said it was important to get the balance between pay and the vocational aspect of the job.

He said: “If you do it the other way you may get people who appreciate the money, but don’t appreciate the hard work that goes into making things a success in the classroom.”