Teacher training target missed for fifth year in a row in England
There has been a failure to attract a fifth of the trainee teachers the government says are needed for secondary schools in England.
Department for Education figures show only 80% of trainees were recruited on to schemes in 2017 and targets were hit in only two of 15 subjects.
It is the fifth year in a row teacher training targets have been missed.
However, School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said there were a record number of teachers in schools.
Geoff Barotn, Association of School and College Leaders said: “It is deeply concerning to see that the government target for recruiting secondary school trainee teachers has been significantly missed. It is the fifth successive year that secondary trainee recruitment has failed to match the identified need, and on this occasion only 80% of the target has been achieved – a shortfall of 3,731 new entrants. Out of 15 subjects, only two have enough new recruits.
“We simply cannot go on like this. There are severe teacher shortages in many subjects and in many areas of the country, and this is having a real and detrimental impact on the quality of education that we are able to provide to our young people.
“It is imperative that we better incentivise teaching as a career, not least through a cost-of-living pay increase which addresses the significant real-term decline in teaching salaries and which is fully funded by the government.”
Each year, approximatley 30,000 new teachers need to be recruited to make sure that schools have enough staff to fill classrooms.
There were 27,895 new entrants to postgraduate Initial Teacher Training courses in the academic year 2017 to 2018, compared with 26,750 in the academic year 2016 to 2017.
However, Nick Gibb said that there were 15,500 more teachers in schools that in 2010.
He said: “The fact that more than 32,000 new trainee teachers have been recruited in a competitive labour market, with historic low unemployment rates and a growing economy, shows that the profession continues to be an attractive career.
“These numbers build on last year’s figures, with 1,100 more graduates training to teach and the number of them holding a first-class degree now at record levels, meaning we’re attracting more of the best and brightest into our classrooms.
“Of course, we want these figures to continue to increase, which is why we recently announced generous bursaries and other financial incentives to encourage even more talented trainees to key subjects, such as maths and physics.”
In 2016, SCHOOLS NorthEast responded to feedback from North East schools regarding the problems they were facing recruiting new, quality teachers. We set up Jobs in Schools | North East, the only not-for-profit, education specific recruitment portal in the region. Since then we have continued to grow the portal and more than 1,750 regional vacancies have been advertised through it.
Jobs in Schools | North East exists not only to support North East schools directly with their recruitment, but also to showcase the region as a fantastic teaching destination. To find out more go to: www.jobsinschoolsnorttheast.com.