Unacceptable variations in the quality of teacher training are revealed in the second published annual performance profiles from the Teacher Training Agency.

The profiles, of all 104 providers, reveal yawning gaps between the best and the worst providers, with low entry requirements, low success rates, and poor recruitment of ethnic minorities remaining serious problems in some institutions, the tables show.

Only five institutions were given the TTA's top grade A, for "very good" quality in primary teacher training. These included the University of East Anglia, ÍøÆØÃÅrton College and Manchester Metropolitan University. But eight providers - almost exclusively school-based providers - were given the lowest grade, D.

Employment among postgraduates from primary teaching courses varied between 100 per cent at five universities, compared to just 54 per cent for the University of Plymouth, and none at the Urban Learning Foundation.

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The failure to recruit ethnic minority students remains a problem, the TTA said. Just 20 providers recruited more than 10 per cent of their secondary trainees from ethnic minorities.

"There are vast variations from institution to institution and we don't want to see that," said a TTA spokeswoman.

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For the full profiles, see website at