Jo Wendholt has always wanted to be a teacher but now her dreams have been dashed by the Government.

Although well qualified in every other way, she simply has been unable to pass a numeracy test on a computer. Miss Wendholt says she could not hear all the questions and that the screen froze several times while she was taking the test.

The Government is right to insist teachers should have basic literacy and numeracy skills even if, like Miss Wendholt, they are specialising in other subjects such as religious education.

But the computer test is alien and arbitrary. It means she is being failed, even though she has passed all her dissertations and gained a good report by an inspector for her maths teaching while she was in a school.

Jo Wendholt is not alone in condemning this test. A Brighton University expert has described it as ludicrous and says many other exceptional trainee teachers have failed it.

This country is short of teachers, which means many children are being taught in unacceptably large classes.

Yet this test, which a quarter of Brighton University trainees is failing, could mean many good teachers will never get into a British classroom.

They will either try another profession or teach abroad. Either way, their talents will be lost to the profession and their training will have been a waste of time.