Teachers will be taught how to support children with autism for the first time following months of campaigning from charities, parents and MPs, it has emerged.

Campaigners have said that with more than one in 100 children on the autism spectrum and over 70 per cent of them going to mainstream schools every teacher will have autistic students in their classes at some point.

Yet, autism training is not mandatory for teachers and some have no special educational needs training at all, leaving them unable to deal with complex issues that could damage a child’s education.

But Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, personally campaigned for teachers to be properly trained in supporting pupils with special needs, specifically autism.

A senior Government source told the Daily Telegraph: “[Mrs Morgan] approached the chair of the initial teacher training review, Stephen Munday, and personally raised the issue of including training on special educational needs (SEN), especially autism, as key part of training.

“She recommended that this is part of the core content that teachers follow. She is passionate about this.”