Act ‘now or never’ to hit 6,500 teachers target, report warns
Education correspondent
BBCA new report recommends that the government faces a “now or never” goal to meet its goal of recruiting 6,500 new teachers in England at the end of its term.
Analysis by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) shows that the rate of unfilled vacancies is high and recruitment for teacher training remains “continuously low.”
All other subjects except for five secondary subjects missed the recruitment target for new trainee teachers this year set by the Ministry of Education (DFE).
The government said the “work has begun” to meet its goals, including an investment of £233 million next year to encourage more trainee teachers to enter the shortage.
The report said that the spending review this summer will require more funding, which will be allocated to different government departments in the coming years, if the target is to be met.
During the campaign, Labor promised to “recruit 6,500 new expert teachers during its five-year parliamentary term” Funding is made by changing VAT rules for private schools.
At the British High School in Swindon, principal Chas Drew agreed that more needs to be done.
He hopes he won’t resign at his school in the next two months.
“March to May is stupid season,” he said.
“Anyone who wants to quit to work in a new job or promotion in September has to give a notice before the half semester in May and then you think: ‘Will I be bothered by the gap?’”
Over the past few years, schools have had to make some GCSE classes slightly larger in subjects such as mathematics and science, and have had to cut human biology courses altogether.
Mr Drew said the school benefits from its good reputation and is word of mouth to word of mouth as the “best recruiter” for new teachers.
Some shortages of participants have increased the supply of teachers in certain areas. The starting salary has also recently increased to £30,000, while the average salary for teachers last year was 5.5 per cent, fully funded by the government.
But recruitment goals are still missing, NFER said.
For primary schools, the number of teacher trainees has dropped from the government target of 94% last year to 88% this year, according to DFE.
In middle schools, despite a 3% increase in teacher numbers since 2015, the number of students has increased by 15% at the same time – meaning that the number of students on the class size is over 30 years old.
Jack Worth, head of the school workforce at NFER, said that more and more students are teaching among unqualified or non-professional teachers, while students living in disadvantaged areas are more acute.
“The June spending review is now or never at any time. It is indeed possible that there is no possibility of not delivering (with 6,500 promises) without seizing the opportunity, and there is no possibility of showing voters to voters at the end of the parliament.”
Mr Worth said “salary increases above average income”, reducing teacher workload and bursary payments and career retention payments are important to attract more teachers.
The NFER report also predicts that teacher recruitment in subjects such as English will drop slightly next year.
Bethan Harvey is a qualified history teacher but is currently teaching English full time due to the need for more teachers in this subject.
“I thought, ‘I can do it, I did A-level English.”
Ms. Harvey is now earning her part-time master’s degree in English, becoming an expert on the subject.
The teaching union supported NFER’s proposal to receive a full salary increase next year and increase by 6.1% over the next two years to retain teachers and attract new teachers into the industry.
The government recommends a 2.8% salary increase this year and is currently awaiting recommendations from review agencies before making a decision.
The National Education Alliance is Currently voted on industrial action members According to the initial recommendations of the government.
NFER also called on school leaders to consider more flexible work practices, but acknowledges the difficulties in achieving this goal.
A DFE spokesman said the £233 million funding next year was “to encourage more talented people to enter the classroom, teaching subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing”.
In addition to last year’s 5.5% compensation reward, they encouraged schools to allow employees to work more flexibly to reduce teachers’ workload and improve well-being.
