Teacher training providers have set out the scale of the challenges attracting new trainees to the profession today as they gave evidence to a parliamentary inquiry.
The Commons Education Select Committee held the second session of its inquiry into the recruitment and retention of teachers in England today.
Here are five things MPs heard in evidence from the heads of training organisations.
1. NIoT chief urges DfE to act on apprenticeship ‘challenges’ with ‘urgency’
The chief executive officer of the National Institute of Teaching, Melanie Renowden, told the committee that the “requirements and expectations” that come with apprenticeships don’t “translate...brilliantly well into teaching”.
She said that time requirements meant those taking up teaching apprenticeships would be starting at a “different point” to the rest of the trainees.
Ms Renowden was referring to the challenge of fitting a 12-month apprenticeship course into an academic year where training is typically done over 9 months.
She said that while the department said it was aware of some of these difficulties, she thought that “we all want to see that move forward with some urgency because I do think it has enormous potential”.
2. ‘Key challenges’ already identified in development of undergraduate teaching apprenticeships
In February this year, the department confirmed that it was working with the sector and with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education “to develop a new degree and qualified teacher status-awarding apprenticeship in teaching”.
However, Richard Gill, chair of the Teaching Schools Council, told the committee today that “key challenges” had already been identified in the development of undergraduate teaching apprenticeships.
He said one problem was around concerns of a lack of subject specificity available and affordability for employers.
Mr Gill added that if these problems are not “tackled”, the apprenticeship could be “very difficult to get off the ground”.
3. Teaching can’t compete with graduate starting salaries of £40k
Russell Hobby, chief executive of the Teach First charity, said that a third of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, “for whom we are often competing with for teachers, are offering starting salaries of £40,000”.
Commenting on why more graduates are not choosing teaching, he added: “Now, not only are they watching their graduate friends start on £40,000 but those friends are working from home on a Friday. It is incredibly hard for the teaching profession to compete with that.”
He told the committee that the government introducing a starting salary for teachers of £30,000 was “exactly the right thing to offer” when it was first talked about, but is now “a lot less competitive than it would have been if it was introduced when it was originally planned”.
4. ‘Golden handcuff’ payments could be explored
Committee chair Robin Walker asked the panel if “golden handcuff” payments for teachers as they move through the early stages of their career could be explored to deter people from leaving the profession.
Mr Hobby said he would explore the option. He suggested bursary payments could be targeted so some of the spending was linked to staying three, five or seven years in the profession.
He also suggested the government could look to link it to those who have worked in regional local hotspots and schools serving low-income communities.
Dr Annabel Watson, associate professor in language education at the University of Exeter, said that the department should also consider bursaries by location, as well as subject, due to a disparity in living costs.
5. Warning on subjects without bursaries
Dr Jasper Green, associate professor of teaching and head of Initial Teacher Education at the UCL Institute of Education (IoE), highlighted the issue of a lack of bursaries in some subjects that are a challenge to recruit teachers in.
He said: “We see first-hand the benefits of bursaries but we question why some of those bursaries are not available for other subjects, such as RE, where there are clearly shortfalls.”
Dr Green said that the IoE was seeing significant reductions in applications for RE and music relative to this point last year.
He added: “I think it’s worth pointing out that these subjects do not have bursaries and, in my mind, they should have bursaries. By not having a bursary you are saying something quite clear about the value of those subjects.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We remain committed to boosting the availability of apprenticeships for aspiring teachers, allowing them to gain a degree and qualified teaching status without incurring student debt.
“More widely, we have launched a number of financial incentives to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as maths, physics, chemistry, and computing, including bursaries worth up to £27,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £29,000 tax-free.
“This is on top of a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools.”
