Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Teacher Recruitment and Retention

Monday 16 January 2023 · 8 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 4 Partly answered 4 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Teacher numbers have increased by 24,000 since 2010 through a highest pay award in 30 years and generous bursaries up to 27,000.
  • The Government has accepted all recommendations from the independent pay review body for the current year.
  • The early career framework supports teachers in the first five years to reduce the risk of retention issues.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Beth Winter
Education
Context

There is a challenge in recruiting and retaining teachers, affecting education quality.

Question

What steps her Department is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of teachers. Recruitment and retention has been a key challenge.

Answer from Gillian Keegan

We have increased teacher numbers by 24,000 since 2010 through highest pay award for 30 years and generous bursaries worth up to £27,000. Levelling-up premium is worth up to £3,000 each year for five years for maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers.

Answered
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Q2 Beth Winter
Education
Context

The National Foundation for Educational Research suggests a strategy for improving recruitment and retention should involve pay uplifts higher than the wider labour market.

Question

Does the Secretary of State agree that the Government cannot address the crisis until they give teachers and support staff the fully funded, inflation-plus pay rise they deserve?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

In 2019, we launched our first ever integrated strategy to recruit and retain more teachers. We have an independent pay review body and this year we accepted all its recommendations in full.

Answered
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Q3 David Evennett Con
Education
Context

The Member attended a school to speak with teachers and answer pupils' questions, highlighting the importance of retaining inspirational teachers.

Question

What more can the Government do to help retain more aspirational teachers?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

The early career framework introduced last year supports teachers in the first five years, which is when the risk of retention is highest. The Government is focused on supporting them during this period to retain more of them.

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Q4 Ian Blackford SNP
Justice & Courts Children & Families
Context

The Member is concerned about the recruitment and retention of teachers but prioritises keeping children safe from sexual predators, mentioning a Scottish child abuse inquiry.

Question

What actions will be taken regarding the extradition of Edgar (Iain Wares), an individual accused of inappropriate behaviour against dozens of boys?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime and due process must be followed to allow investigatory and legal processes, maximising conviction chances. Due process is important to follow.

Partly answered

Not addressed: specific extradition actions

How: Due Process

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Q5 Philip Hollobone Con
Education
Context

The Member asks about raising starting salaries for teachers to £30,000 a year and the pension entitlement.

Question

Can the Government confirm they will raise starting salaries for teachers to £30,000 a year? Also, what is the teacher's employer contribution to pensions compared to private sector?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

Starting salary will be raised from £28,000 this year to £30,000 from September next year. The employer contribution to teachers' pensions is 23.6%, which is considerably higher than for many in the private sector.

Answered
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Q6 Meg Hillier Labour (Co-op) Hackney South and Shoreditch
Education
Context

The Member is concerned that good teachers move after five years in London because of high accommodation costs.

Question

What is being done to ensure we keep good teachers in London, both in the immediate and long term?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

We have a London weighting for teachers. I accept that accommodation costs in London are extremely high in some areas, but no specific measures beyond the current weightings were provided.

Partly answered

Not addressed: specific measures to address housing costs for teachers

How: Acceptance Of High Costs

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Q7 Flick Drummond Con
Education
Context

The Member visited a school and was told there are 20 ways of getting into teaching, but schools still struggle to get teachers.

Question

What can be done to simplify the 20 routes into teaching while ensuring high standards for teachers?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

We are making sure that we have bursaries and looking to increase the number of routes, including an apprenticeship for teaching at undergraduate level.

Partly answered

Not addressed: specific simplification actions while increasing routes

How: Increasing Routes

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Q8 Stephen Morgan Lab Portsmouth South
Education
Context

The Schools Bill has been abandoned, and the government's only major education initiative is making maths compulsory until age 18. Experts argue this is unachievable due to a severe teacher recruitment crisis.

Question

Having dumped the Schools Bill, the only education policy this Government seem to have is a gimmick announcement on making maths compulsory until 18, a plan that experts say is unachievable in the light of the teacher recruitment crisis. What discussion did the Secretary of State have with the Prime Minister before his announcement, because surely she would have told him it was unworkable, given that the Government have missed their recruitment target for maths teachers in each of the last 10 years?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

We very much have a focus on making sure that our standards are very high in schools and that our children have the very best education to compete globally when they need to get into the workforce. If we look at every other developed economy, we see that in pretty much all of them children do maths in some form up to the age of 18, and we are a bit of an outlier. We are looking to raise the expectations and standards to make sure that our children can compete, and to also give them financial skills for life. Of course, we will work with the sector, and it is a longer-term strategy to make sure that we have enough maths teachers. We have a number of strategies already in place, because it is always tough to recruit maths teachers, and that is why we have introduced a bursary of up to £27,000 for all maths teachers and also for many science teachers.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Secretary of State did not address the specific discussion with the Prime Minister or directly acknowledge whether the plan was considered unworkable due to the recruitment crisis.

How: Looking To Raise Expectations And Standards, It Is A Longer-Term Strategy

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