The onset of autumn evokes memories of school and university: the unforgettable excitement of the start of a fresh session. Now, 25 years after I thought I had left the groves of academe forever, I am back on a leaf-strewn campus as a new boy. I have enrolled on a revolutionary form of teacher training. It’s called a “flexible PGCE”, and is designed to encourage even more people into teaching by fitting the course around them.

Surprisingly, this may be the only day I spend on campus this term. In theory, all coursework can be carried out at home through distance-learning, a sort of correspondence course brought up to date with email and the internet. And for the most part, my training days in schools can be arranged according to my timetable and availability.

As a freelance writer and part-time house-husband with two young children and a small job on the side, I need all the flexibility I can get. The only way I’ll be able to qualify as a maths teacher is if the course is tailored to my requirements.

I explain to my course tutor that I can do teacher training practice in schools on Mondays and Fridays only. My tutor takes a deep breath. “I have to keep reminding myself that this is a ‘flexible’ course,” she says, promising to try to find a school that will accept a part-time student.

Warwick University is one of five institutions offering flexible courses - part of the push to prevent the staffing crisis in UK classrooms deepening.

The Government’s drive for “higher standards” has invoked layers of rigid regulation. Before you can get into the classroom you have to be assessed, accredited, inducted and qualified. You spend months practising teaching or watching others at the chalkface. My trouble is that teaching two days a week could stretch my course out forever. And as the regulations say you have to complete your training within two years, I’m stuck.

This flexible course may be the answer. If it takes one full-time student a year to qualify, how long will it take one working two days a week? I think the sum might work.

Rupert Segar is a writer, broadcaster and trainee maths teacher