A person can choose to teach for many different reasons, not just because they can't get into a front-line job.

Surely, the best teachers are those who choose to teach because they want to teach - they like passing on knowledge to another generation to ensure the future of their chosen subject.

Teaching a skill requires knowledge of that skill or the student won't learn anything and will have no trust in any authority figures. Even if this is largely true of teachers, it is something that is wrong and needs changing.

We learn from the mistakes/failures of our teachers in our field. I, for example had a teacher Ahmed Raza, a Cambridge grad , who couldn't get his P.H.D from Mcgill because he insulted his advisor and his thesis depended solely on the advisor's discretion.He lives with a paranoid xenophobia rather fear of white people trying to rob him, because he has been pushed in the background before. Point being he's brilliant but his mistrust because of initial naviete/blind-trust messed things up for him , so students learn to be careful to draw lines between what is theirs, what is their advisors', save records of all your work and not to be racially paranoid but careful so no one has the chance of doing you wrong.

In the Hollywood film 'Finding Forrestor' there is an instance where Sean Connery in his leading role describes too kinds of 'failed' writers who become teachers:

One is bona fide, because s/he helps her/his students avert the crises that decapitated her/his career. The other, the iconoclast is terrible/cruel/resentful, attempting to smite all traces of talent from his/her students to avenge his/her downfall.

These are all skills that can be taught at teacher training and obtained through on the job experience. They aren't as measurable as grades at University and so can't be used as easily as criteria for who gets a job. If a person has a high grade, it shows they are good at studying, they learn fast and are interested in their subject, so they can be taught the required skills easily.

The policy does not say that a good degree is the ONLY thing required. Like any good job, there will be a variety of skills, experience and personal qualities required.

Elite does mean the 'best' fit catering to students and their symbiotic environment,here in this context.

the popularity of student assessment of teachers like customer satisfaction cards, reveals how institutions put their customers first and teachers are selected accordingly.

It is not about grades and achievement; it is about getting someone in front of our children who is to be a good role model. Those who go to the red brick Universities are the top of the class. They are the academics of our era. They have achieved consistently through their academics. They would inspire children. This is not an irrelevant detail. In addition, maybe the students from such Universities will have an element of prestige about them; this is good. We need to put people in the class room who have an impeccable accent. If our children are taught in such a way, maybe it will moderate the current epidemic there is amongst the young for talking like a yob; dropping the T’s and G’s. hearing a posh accent every day can only but improve a child’s pronunciation.