The real problem with fast-track, in my view, is that the Department for Education and Skills is going into it with one eye shut. Looking for good honours graduates (2:1 and above) will certainly bring out some good people, that is self-evident. What is also self-evident is that you can get some very academically gifted people who have not got a clue about how to conduct themselves in normal social situations, let alone have the people skills to handle a class of unruly kids, or manage a team of professionals as a headteacher.

Having suffered A-level maths teachers who were lecturing beyond their own subject knowledge, I can see the advantage of PhD and Masters graduates teaching in the upper echelons of secondary schools. But in primary, the area in which I am training, it is not as relevant, perhaps even a hindrance to be educated to such a level. Relating to the kids is what matters.

Maybe someone at the DFES has realised this already. When fast-track was launched last year, there was talk of around 300 places nationwide. After 10,000 enquiries and 1,574 applications, the Government set aside just 150 places. And it did not manage to fill them. Just 110 fast-track students began their course alongside the rest of us this September.

We should all take heart that the DFES is not seeing a 2:1 or higher as automatic entry to the scheme. Having spoken to fast-track friends, it is clear to me that the three-day selection course was demanding. Producing impromptu presentations to actors role-playing headteachers, and being thrown in at the deep end to handle a mythical outraged parent, sorted the wheat from the chaff. Ihave no doubt that those who came through that procedure, and who stick with the extra work and shifting of job every few years, will on the whole become excellent teachers.

But I am also not surprised that so few academically bright people got through the selection procedure.

So who should the DFES also be looking for? In addition to encouraging existing teachers to go for it, fast-track should look to those who have made the move from other successful careers to become trainee teachers. And yes, hands up, I do mean me. But not just me. Two months into my PGCE course, Ihave met some very able, nice and committed fast-track students. Mind you, I was not supposed to know who they are, but when the university inadvertently put a fast-track tag next to their names on a noticeboard, it was a bit of a give away. Yet, despite stories of mutterings in staffrooms across the land, Iam not aware of any resentment coming from fellow students.

The thing is that Ihave met as many equally able, equally committed and just as nice non-fast-trackers who will do just as good a job as those pocketing the extra three-grand grant.

There are mature students who have handled difficult managerial jobs and who are much more experienced in the people skills needed to manage a team such as a school’s teaching staff. They have real experience of life and are equally as valuable as those who shone at university.

Myself, I got on completely the wrong course - BSc (Hons) in Physical Electronics - hated it, and found solace in playing in a punk rock band, drinking heavily and getting better acquainted with the opposite sex. I came away with a meagre third. Since then, though, I have had a very successful career, and to be judged on three years of my youth which came to an end 14 years ago is ludicrous.

So if you are reading, Estelle, I am ready for the call-up, as are many other mature students. There should be a system for identifying the most able teachers. But it should be based on something wider than a paper qualification. Maybe teacher-training institutions should take a bigger part in assessing students? Or, god forbid, it should be based on how well people actually do their job. Like it is in the real world.

David Ogle is a PGCE student at Bath Spa University College and a former editor of Trail magazine