The number of trainee teachers who dropped out or did not achieve qualified teacher status (QTS) rose to its highest rate in five years last year, new Department for Education figures reveal.
The proportion of initial teacher training (ITT) trainees who did not complete their training in 2021-22 rose to 7 per cent, the highest rate since 2017 and up from 5 per cent in the previous year, according to the latest DfE data.
Trainees who were not awarded QTS either left the course before completion or failed to meet the standards needed, according to the DfE.
Of the 31,747 total postgraduate trainees who began teacher training courses last academic year, 2,236 did not qualify, up 40 per cent from the 1,597 students who dropped out during the previous year out of a similar total number of trainees (31,698).
The latest data comes after figures released last December showed that the DfE missed its target for secondary teacher trainees starting courses in September 2023 by 41 per cent.
It also comes amid the recent revelation that the number of state school teachers leaving the profession hit the highest rate in four years last year.
Today’s figures show that science, technology, engineering and maths subjects had the highest trainee dropout or fail rate in 2021-22.
Some 13 per cent of physics and 14 per cent of computing postgraduate ITT students did not achieve QTS last year.
This was up from 8 per cent for computing trainees and 10 per cent for physics trainees in 2020-21.
Biology also had a high non-completion rate, with 12 per cent of trainees not awarded QTS last year, while for chemistry the figure was 10 per cent.
Meanwhile, 8 per cent of maths trainees who began courses did not achieve QTS in 2021-22.
Teacher training: ‘Concerning’ dropout rates
Overall, English Baccalaureate subjects had a higher non-completion rate of 9 per cent compared with non-EBacc subjects.
A higher proportion of secondary postgraduate ITT trainees failed to achieve QTS compared with those on primary courses, with 8 per cent not qualifying compared with 6 per cent.
Teacher trainees who have not completed ITT courses are not included in the data release.
The DfE said the number of students who have reached the end of courses has increased each year since 2017-18 and remained high following an unprecedented increase in 2020-21, which was likely to have been a direct result of the impact of Covid-19.
It added that “the continued high number of trainees with course outcomes this year may be due in part to trainees completing their course this academic year after receiving course extensions at the end of 2020-21 due to the disruption to training caused by Covid-19”.
The drop in the numbers qualifying has been described as “concerning” by headteachers’ leaders.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that it will add to “growing challenges” that schools face in recruiting teachers, given that “the number of entrants for initial teacher training is consistently below the government’s target”.
Mr Barton called for more work to be done to “understand the reasons for this fall”, adding that he hoped it would “serve as a reminder that there is a huge amount of work still to do to solve the recruitment and retention crisis”.
“While the latest government [teacher] pay offer is welcome, it does not reverse historic pay erosion, which alongside issues around workload, a punitive inspection system and lack of sufficient funding for education have contributed to a situation where schools and colleges are struggling to put teachers in front of classes.”
James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers, said that it was a possibility that the rise in dropout rates “may be Covid-related”.
He said: “It is possible that some less committed people applied to ITT during the pandemic, and then dropped out, maybe as the employment market improved.”
The trainees on courses in 2021-22 would have applied to courses in 2020-21, a period in which England experienced two national lockdowns and continuing restrictions.
Higher qualification rate on school-led courses
The latest figures also show that 94 per cent of postgraduate trainee teachers on a school-led training route were awarded QTS compared with 92 per cent on a higher education institution (HEI) course in 2022, down from 95 per cent for students taking courses with both types of provider in the previous year.
The DfE said this was the “first year we have seen a difference in QTS” outcomes between these different provider types since 2017.
It also said that predicted employment rates differed by training route.
The DfE calculates employment rates by provisionally estimating employment within 16 months of the end of the academic year in which trainees completed training, based on relevant school workforce census data.
Overall, the provisional employment rate was 81 per cent for those on a school-led route compared with 69 per cent for those on an HEI route, with the highest rate seen for those on the Teach First High Potential ITT course (90 per cent).
A total of 22,276 postgraduate trainees awarded QTS in 2021-22 will be employed as a teacher in a state-funded school in England, up from 21,889 in 2020-21, according to DfE estimates.
The percentage of those awarded QTS teaching in a state-funded school rose to 75 per cent for those training in 2021-22, up from 73 per cent the previous year.
