Children with disabilities are suffering when taught by young and newly qualified teachers, an Ofsted report claims.

Only a third of lessons taken by inexperienced teachers were good for pupils with learning difficulties, according to the education regulator.

It said many new teachers were left ill-prepared by their training, for meeting the needs of pupils who had a wide spectrum of special needs.

Inspectors visited 16 universities and colleges that provided teacher training, and 70 schools. They found: “Initial teacher education was rarely inadequate but too much was satisfactory rather than good. There were considerable variations in practice and quality across all types of training.

“Providers of postgraduate certificate education (PGCE) courses struggled most to ensure good-quality provision.”

Even the best providers showed “heavy reliance on school placement to provide most of the training”, and they could not compensate for weaker schools.

The report continued: “In two-thirds of lessons taught by new and recently qualified teachers, provision for pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities was satisfactory or worse.”

Where it was most effective, teachers were skilled at communicating and able to identify what detracted from learning.

It added: “Less than half the schools visited provided good induction into teaching pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities.

“In just over half the 77 lessons seen, the quality of teaching was satisfactory. In 12 it was inadequate.”

The report said the best training helped teachers to reflect on how they could adapt lessons for children with special needs, for example by using a sensory curriculum, pictures or more activities.

In the worst cases, it said, trainee teachers had been “actively discouraged” from gaining initial experience in more challenging schools.

It said: “The new teachers who had received the best preparation were able to reflect on their practice and identify their development needs accurately.

“They had high expectations of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities, and of themselves in helping pupils to meet these expectations.”

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