The government has failed to hit its target for primary teacher trainees, with the number recruited on to courses this term falling below pre-pandemic levels, data released today reveals.
And today’s data shows that the Department for Education missed its target for recruitment of secondary teacher trainees by an even wider margin of 41 per cent across the term, with just 12,356 entrants, compared with figures released in September that showed the number was 40 per cent below target.
The number of entrants to primary initial teacher training (ITT) courses for the 2022-23 academic year was 10,868, just 93 per cent of the DfE target - the lowest number since 2014-15.
This was despite the number of primary trainees shown as being placed on courses in September slightly exceeding the target (11,655).
In 2019 there were 12,216 new primary entrants to ITT, which meant the target was missed by 6 per cent.
In April the DfE said it expected 20,945 secondary trainees and 11,655 primary trainees to be starting their postgraduate ITT this September.
Today’s figures include the recruitment figures for Teach First.
Overall, there were 23,224 new postgraduate entrants to ITT - 20 per cent fewer than in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Teacher training targets missed
Commenting on today’s data, Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), said that the figures showed ”not enough teachers are entering teacher training across a large range of secondary subjects to meet the need for future teachers”.
Mr Worth added that 13 out of 17 secondary subjects, alongside primary, missed the targets.
“Teacher recruitment and retention will remain a key challenge for the education system for the foreseeable future, unless radical action is taken to address the most pressing underlying challenges, such as pay and workload,” he said.
Just 59 per cent of the DfE’s recruitment target was achieved in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects this year, with only 4,058 trainees starting on courses.
And only 17 per cent of the 2,610 physics teacher trainees calculated to be needed by the DfE were recruited.
Modern foreign languages numbers were two-thirds off target (66 per cent off target) and music missed its target by over a third (36 per cent off target).
Today’s data also reveals that just 62 per cent of the ITT recruitment target for EBacc subjects was achieved.
And subjects such as English, which have historically been easier to recruit for, missed the target this year for the first time in five years, with just 84 per cent of the number needed recruited.
Other subjects facing particular shortfalls, according to today’s figures, are computing (70 per cent below target), design and technology (75 per cent below), geography (31 per cent below) and biology (15 per cent below).
Earlier this week Tes exclusively revealed that teacher shortages were set to become more acute amid the cost-of-living crisis as teacher trainees, particularly primary, are being forced to drop out of courses due to financial pressures.
Nearly half (49 per cent) of the 83 school-based teacher training provider directors who responded to a National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) survey said they were very concerned and a further 47 per cent said they were somewhat concerned that the cost-of-living crisis will lead to trainee dropouts.
And half reported they had already seen trainees drop out this academic year as a direct result of the costs crisis.
ITT figures ‘nothing short of catastrophic’
James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, said the sector was facing a ”perfect storm which the government needs to address as a matter of urgency”.
“The fact that ITE [initial teacher education] intake targets have been missed to such an extent is extremely concerning, especially given the likelihood that some of those who were actually recruited could be forced to withdraw because of the cost-of-living crisis,” he said.
“We are also concerned that the review of the ITE market, which has led to a reduction in the number of accredited providers, will cause further disruption to the teacher supply base.”
Earlier this year the DfE reinstated the English bursary at £15,000 after this was removed two years ago.
It also raised the cash incentives for teacher trainees next year amid mounting concerns about the recruitment crisis.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said today’s figures were “nothing short of catastrophic”.
“The government has consistently missed its own targets for recruitment over the course of the past decade but this is a new low,” he said.
“A key cause of this crisis is the long-term erosion of teacher pay, which has fallen in real-terms by a fifth since 2010, making it uncompetitive in the graduate market place.”
James Zuccollo, director for school workforce at think tank the Education Policy Institute, said the fall in teacher training entrants “raises questions over the government’s decision to cut retention payments during the pandemic”.
“It’s now clear that teaching’s heightened popularity during the pandemic was short-lived, with ITT figures released today revealing a substantial decline in the numbers of people pursuing teaching as a career.
“While this year’s ITT data release differs slightly from earlier iterations, a 20 per cent reduction in the overall number of people pursuing teaching training since last year is still a substantial decline. This decline in popularity raises questions over the government’s decision to cut retention payments during the pandemic.
“It’s also clear that certain subjects were more affected than others, a likely result of graduates finding more competitive pay in occupations other than teaching. This is most seen through widespread failure to meet recruitment targets in Stem subjects, with recruitment of physics teachers falling 83 per cent short of the government’s target.
“Similarly, it’s concerning that the overall attainment of graduates entering the profession is declining, with 75 per cent holding a first-class or 2:1 degree this year, down from 78 per cent last year, despite more graduates attaining these grades across the population. In each case, teaching must be placed on a more equal footing with competitor career routes that graduates have access to.”
