Ben Howlett, the Member of Parliament for Bath, has written to all schools in Bath to encourage their teachers to undertake an autism training programme.
The programme, which is run by the Autism Education Trust, offers training to help teachers and other professionals understand and meet the needs of children and young people on the autism spectrum.
It is estimated that more than one in 100 children are on the autism spectrum, around 120,000 in England, meaning that every teacher will have children with autism in their classes throughout their career.
On writing the letter, Ben said: “I think it is vital that every child has teachers and staff who understand their needs and so I have encouraged schools in Bath to introduce their teachers to the training scheme.
“More than 100,000 professionals have now completed the AET’s autism training and it would be fantastic if we could add a number of local teachers to the list.
“I see a growing number of families in my surgeries with issues linked to children with autism, and see there is a real need to ensure professionals fully understand the issues of children on the autism spectrum”
The letter follows an announcement by ministers that from 2018, all new teachers will have to learn about autism and other types of special educational needs as part of their initial teacher training.