TEENAGERS who yesterday celebrated good GCSE results could be taught next term by teachers with fewer qualifications than them, Labour claims. 

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt highlighted the absurd scenario as 68 per cent of pupils received A* to C grades.

Mr Hunt said: “It is now the case that some of the pupils who have received their grades today may have higher qualifications than the teachers who will be teaching them at the start of the next school term.”

Government figures show that Tory former education secretary Michael Gove’s decision to open up academies and free schools to unqualified teachers had sparked a 16 per cent rise in their number in England’s state-funded schools over the last year.

There are now 19,757 unqualified teachers in classrooms compared to 14,800 in 2012. 

Labour says the total could soar to more than 47,000 by 2020 if Mr Gove’s policy is not scrapped. 

“Every child deserves a highly trained, highly motivated, qualified teacher,” Mr Hunt said. That’s how they secure a command of mathematics and the English language.” 

Headteachers reported that Mr Gove’s meddling was also seen in the “volatility” of results yesterday. 

Mr Gove downgraded coursework for pupils in England, insisting they should be tested in highly pressurised single exams on each subject. 

More students passed maths but there was a 1.9 per cent drop in the number of pupils gaining C or above in English — believed to be the biggest in the qualification’s history. 

NUT general secretary Christine Blower warned: “We must ensure that changes being made to our qualifications system do not unfairly disadvantage specific groups of students.