Question: You've done some research into the number of graduates who go into the teaching profession - what have you found?

Joe Hallgarten: We've found and I don't think it's a surprising that if you attend one of the so-called elite universities, you're far less likely to go onto a PGCE course.

Question: It isn't a revelation really is it? It's always been the case that graduates from elite universities have got more employment choices so that's the reason they probably don't go into teaching so much?

Joe Hallgarten: One aspect of this - although it stands uncorroborated by our research - is illustrated by the Physics Department at Imperial College where out of 200 physics students last year that graduated, not one of them chose to do a PGCE. We take the view that this problem might be getting worse for the status of the profession, and more importantly, in terms of access to these universities for children from state schools.

Question: But you never found any proof to suggest it is declining?

Joe Hallgarten: It's very difficult to tell but many of the indications we are getting indicate that it might be so. We got our data from careers offices and their time scales were not sufficiently consistent to show explicit evidence of a decline but my colleagues and I have seen and heard of enough examples to believe that this decline is real.

Question: Does it really matter that graduates aren't opting for teaching just because they go to the best universities? It doesn't mean they'll be the best teachers does it?

Joe Hallgarten: No. Of course not but the thing that should be considered is the class of degree as well as origin. The degree rate of PGCE students roughly mirrors the graduate population as a whole which seems to suggest we're not getting the best and brightest into teaching and the elite universities is a source of those, obviously not the only source. Some of them are doing pretty well at attracting PGCE students, we must remember that as well.

Question: Tony Blair says he wants teaching to be recognised alongside the law or business as a profession of the highest status and regard - how far are we away from achieving this?

Joe Hallgarten: I think we are quite a long way. It may be that we need to reconsider the whole nature of professionalism in teaching. Professionalism is based on the idea of retaining knowledge quite often, and only letting it out in small doses if you like, but the whole idea of teaching and learning is the idea of sharing knowledge. So we need a new concept of professionalism that suits the teaching profession, which will be very very different from law, business or other professions.

Question: Surely it's the role of a university to act as an independent broker helping students identify career paths that are suitable to them as individuals, rather than foist teaching on them?

Joe Hallgarten: I don't think teaching can be foisted on anybody, but certainly universities need to recognise their role that's part of a loop which goes from school to university. And if they don't encourage enough people of quality to become teachers, the chances are that eventually they won't get enough students of quality to become their students because the teachers won't be there to teach them. So they do have some responsibility. What we're concerned about is that some universities aren't just neutral brokers in this, but they actually discourage some of their students from going into teaching.

Question: Is there any evidence of that?

Joe Hallgarten: We've heard from some careers offices and are aware of one incident involving a student at Imperial College who asked about PGCEs and was told by the careers office that Imperial students do not become teachers. For all graduates only 3.7 per cent of all known first destinations come under 'teaching professional' HESA category. Both Oxford and Cambridge were less than 2 per cent while Sheffield is nearly 8 per cent which shows the discrepancy.

Question: So some elite universities are trying to warn students away from teaching?

Joe Hallgarten: It's not wholly improbable. Our research thus far has shown that Oxford, Cambridge and London Universities combined are less than half the HESA average for first destinations. But we'd need further research on the actual practices of careers offices. But certainly we couldn't force universities to do this but we could do certain things to encourage them - we might even think about funding incentives if they improved the rates which encouraged students to become not just teachers but other public service professionals where there were shortages.

Question: The government would argue that their teaching fast track scheme has been successful in attracting students from elite universities into teaching. Would you go along with that?

Joe Hallgarten: It certainly has been successful to some extent. The 61 per cent of this year's fast track intake, the successful ones, came from the Russell group universities, which says there has been some success in that respect. One of our concerns about fast track is that - and again this stands without evidence - a lot of people applied for fast track and if they were turned down decided not to teach at all, and that's really turning away a pool of potential teachers. We feel that the fast track process should be delayed for one year so that everybody does a PGCE and then during that year you are recommended to go onto fast track.

Question: What more can the Government do in terms of attracting graduates from elite universities into teaching and also what can they do to improve the status of the profession?

Joe Hallgarten: They clearly go hand in hand. I think the main thing they should do is think about ways to give teaching, if you like, CV credibility because I think - like many other careers - teaching is no longer regarded as a career for life and I think what puts people off going into teaching is the idea that they might get stuck, and what puts people off staying in it is again the idea that they might get stuck if they don't leave after a while. If we could have a much more flexible pool of talent with people going in, teaching for 5 or 6 years and then going out but with the option of coming back in again, that would improve its status: it would become more transparent and flexible.

Question: Would you like to see students from all universities doing some kind of teaching placement maybe?

Joe Hallgarten: Well that's already an option, that's already coming on board and I think it's a good idea, the idea that one module of whatever degree you do can be in teaching that knowledge, whatever subject it is in, and kind of knocking a chunk off qualified teachers' status in doing so. Our concern about that is again the elite traditional universities won't take this up because it's a modular form of learning and it would only be certain universities that would opt for this and we would like all universities to be encouraged to do it.

Question: Do you think it's something that you would like to see the government trying to promote?

Joe Hallgarten: Well they're promoting it because they are creating the initiative, which is starting next year, I think.

Question: But to make it compulsory?

Joe Hallgarten: I don't think you could ever make it compulsory. I think what you need to recognise is it's a skill that's as important as academic knowledge - the ability to communicate that knowledge is a very important skill that you would expect most degrees to have in some aspects and teaching gives you those skills.

Question: What's at stake if we fail to attract these graduates from elite universities into teaching?

Joe Hallgarten: I think without that the status the profession will never rise quickly enough. I think within these universities, networks of future opinion leaders and so on are created and if teachers are excluded from that loop, then their status will never rise. So I think a considerable amount is at stake in terms of encouraging these particular group of students, and without targeting them it is doubtful they will be attracted.