Labour is setting out how it plans to boost teacher retention and improve standards in schools as part of a policy announcement this week.
The plan includes giving early career teachers (ECTs) a one-off payment of £2,400 for staying in the profession and sending in regional improvement teams to schools identified by Ofsted as needing help.
The policies are being trailed ahead of a speech by party leader Sir Keir Starmer later this week, which is expected to focus on education. But many of the policy details are yet to be released.
Here is everything schools need to know about what has been announced so far:
1. £2,400 payment for ECTs who stay
Labour said it would introduce a new retention payment when teachers complete the two-year Early Career Framework to reduce the number who leave before this point.
The party says this plan will recognise the professional development teachers have undertaken. Labour believes it will cost around £56 million and can be funded from money raised by ending private schools’ VAT tax exemption.
Luke Sibieta, a research fellow at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said: “There is solid evidence showing that such payments are an effective way to boost retention among teachers early on in their career.
“With only about 60 per cent of teachers still teaching five years after completing their training, there is a strong case for focusing on this group.”
He told Tes there would also be a strong argument for offering higher payments to teachers in disadvantaged areas and those teaching shortage subjects, such as maths and science.
The Chartered College for Teaching has welcomed the party’s focus on teacher retention, but a spokesperson said that a one-off payment was “unlikely to solve issues around working conditions and status of the teaching profession that are driving teachers out of the job”.
It also called for plans to retain teachers at other career stages in the profession.
2. Simplified incentive payments for teachers
Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has said her party would introduce reforms on how teachers and schools access incentive payments.
She said Labour plans to create a single framework to simplify the current network of retention incentive payment funds.
The Department for Education currently provides bursary payments to subjects identified as facing shortages and also launched a “levelling up premium” of payments targeted at teachers working in Education Investment Areas.
Labour has not provided any further details.
3. Regional improvement teams to tackle school weaknesses
Labour plans to send regional improvements teams - which would be comprised of local teachers and heads and managed by civil servants - to schools identified as having weaknesses during Ofsted inspections.
This could be to address weaknesses in areas such as behaviour, the progress of disadvantaged pupils or shortcomings in the curriculum for particular subjects.
Labour said the new teams would partner with struggling schools to respond to areas of weakness identified in new “school report cards”.
It revealed earlier this year that it wants to consult on replacing single-word Ofsted judgements with report cards.
Labour has yet to publish any further details of its plan for regional improvement teams but already faces mounting questions.
Steve Rollett, deputy chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said: “Given the recruitment and retention crisis in our schools, is it right to take school improvement expertise away from the chalkface?”
In a thread on Twitter, he added: “Civil servants do many things well, but is there evidence that leading and coordinating school improvement is one of them?”
Laura McInerney, founder of Teacher Tapp, said: “The whole reason why the magical superteam approach doesn’t work is because there aren’t heroes just sitting around waiting to get a call.
“You need them to be doing something. So we do: they run schools! And then, when you need them, you give them the school to improve.”
Daniel Muijs, education professor and former head of research at Ofsted, said: “This is not an approach that will build capacity for sustainable improvement, and risks same problems of lack of fit to context and an individualised approach to improvement as the old ‘superheads’ scheme.”
4. New teachers will be required to have QTS
In a speech later this week, Sir Keir is expected to promise to reinstate the requirement for new teachers to have or to be working towards qualified teacher status (QTS).
Labour has not announced any more details, but it is understood that this change would only apply to new teachers.
Currently, maintained school teachers already need to have QTS, but teachers working in academies currently do not.
5. Pledge to save billions on teacher recruitment
Labour has pledged to save billions of pounds paid by schools each year to teacher recruitment agencies through its plans to retain more teachers.
In a statement issued last night, Ms Phillipson said Labour would reduce payments to fill teaching agencies.
Analysis by the party found that state schools in England have paid recruitment agencies more than £8 billion in fees since 2010.
Labour did not say, when asked by Tes, how much of a reduction it is aiming for, or how this would be achieved.
The party has previously committed to recruiting 6,500 additional teachers, funded by adding VAT to private school fees.
6. No commitment to a 6.5% pay rise for teachers
Labour’s announcements come as the government is locked in a dispute with the main school staff unions on pay - with two more national teacher strikes planned this week.
The Independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is reported to have recommended a 6.5 per cent pay rise for teachers next year. The government is facing calls to publish the STRB, and to say whether it will meet this recommendation and provide additional funding for schools.
During media interviews ahead of Labour’s announcement, Ms Phillipson would not be drawn on whether a Labour government would deliver a 6.5 per cent pay rise.
