An email arrived in my inbox on the same day that the Commons Education Select Committee report was published on the recruitment and retention of teachers.

It was from a newly qualified primary school teacher and it broke my heart. She had qualified with outstanding grades and was told she would be “a brilliant teacher”.

But after less than a year at her first school, she was resigning.

The reason?

“I was burnt out from planning in the evenings, being anxious all day about the behaviour, worried about not getting through the curriculum and feeling guilty for the many wonderful children in the class who were feeling second best and not receiving the education they deserve.”

Her class had behavioural problems, but she also complained about workload, a lack of support, a lack of experienced teachers she could draw upon, and a lack of planning time.

The Select Committee report says we are now facing a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, with the government missing its recruitment targets for the past five years in a row.

The result is that while teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to cope, class sizes are growing and the curriculum is shrinking. So the quality of education our children are receiving is suffering.

Unacceptable shortages

One headteacher in Greenwich has said that due to funding and recruitment shortages: “I’m looking at introducing super-sets of 100 children at a time in lessons [and] doing away with two GCSEs.”

This is simply unacceptable in the 21st century. Our schools need funding properly, with the high quality teachers that our children deserve.

The Tory MP for Stroud, Neil Carmichael, the Committee chairman, has warned that ministers must now put in place a long-term plan to tackle teacher recruitment.

The initial teacher training (ITT) targets that have been set for core English Baccalaureate subjects are now being routinely missed. There are specific teacher shortages in physics, maths and computing, which means other teachers who are not as qualified have to cover, or expensive supply staff must be brought in.

But the government also appears incapable of taking steps to retain the teachers we have.

No-one will be surprised to discover that the key reason for teachers leaving the profession is workload.

And do you know the most disappointing thing? “The government is aware of these issues, yet lacks a coherent, long-term plan to effectively address them,” says the Committee.

So the government can’t plead ignorance, but can admit incompetence.

Five-year crisis

This problem with teacher recruitment and retention has been going on for five years! Long enough, you might think.

The government recently announced the International Recruitment Strategy as their latest wheeze. In a pilot scheme, they want to try and recruit 50 physics and maths teachers from abroad.

We have thousands of teachers missing from the classroom, yet this is their only answer?

Leaving aside Brexit for the moment, and the impact it might have on Britain’s attractiveness to professionals and on our immigration policy, I think most teachers would tell the government they need to tackle the classroom issues that teachers are currently facing.

The same issues that have been so graphically evidenced by my newly qualified teacher, soon to be sadly lost to the profession.

Angela Rayner is member of parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne and Labour’s shadow education secretary

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