JENNA BUSH is to teach in the capital’s schools system, one of the worst-performing public education areas in the US.

She will follow in the footsteps of mother, Laura, rather than in those of President Bush. But her father thinks that it is “great that she is pursuing what she wants to do”, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

He refused to say where Ms Bush would be teaching but The Washington Post said that it would be at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School, which receives government funds but also has some independence over curriculum and hiring practices.

This means that Ms Bush, 23, who was twice charged with underage drinking in 2001, can work there despite having a degree in English from the University of Texas rather than one in education.

The primary school, whose pupils are 60 per cent African American and 37 per cent Hispanic, suffered a drop in last year’s results but prides itself on enrolling more disadvantaged pupils than traditional Washington public schools, while outperforming them in examinations.

Ms Bush may have to clean up her image after four years in the spotlight. She could start by advising pupils not to copy her high school fame when she was voted “most likely to trip on Prom night”. The picture of her sticking her tongue out from the back of her father’s campaign limo will presumably not be on her classroom wall, either.

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