A scheme designed to bring former soldiers into teaching jobs has seen as many as 28 qualify since it started. However, this is far below the target that had been set by the government, leading to criticism for the project from experts. 

When former education secretary Michael Gove launched the scheme, he had hoped it would see 2,000 applications from people who had previously been in the army and wanted to move into teaching. However, the 28 qualified teachers who have come out of it, show that the project has fallen well below expectations. 

Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said the apparent failure of the Troops to Teachers scheme showed that the government is still failing to get to grips with and understand the teacher shortage crisis that exists across the UK. 

"I very much want to see more veterans re-training to become teachers as they have a huge amount to offer and we desperately need more good teachers. 

"What's clear is that, as with the government's general slow response to teacher shortages, this scheme isn't working because the government isn't focusing on teacher recruitment."

However, the government said that it was too early to call the project a failure, and was adamant that it has so far been, in fact, a success. It stressed that the figures relating to qualified teachers were simply from the first round of training and that there is still much growth to come in terms of the number of teachers this scheme will provide the industry. 

Schools minister Nick Gibb said a total of 551 applications had been received for the scheme since it first started in 2014, showing that it is now more than a quarter of the way towards hitting its target in terms of applications. 

A Department for Education spokesman said: "The 28 graduates referred to are the first trainees to be recruited and complete their two-year course at the end of December. 

"A further two cohorts are being trained right now which means that more than 140 former troops are working in our classrooms and record numbers of eligible applicants have applied for the latest cohort."