Delays and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Department for Education’s updated recruitment and retention strategy have been branded “deeply disappointing” by education leaders.
The calls come after schools minister Damian Hinds refused to guarantee that the strategy update would be published before the general election, which is expected later this year.
Experts say the problem needs to receive “urgent attention” amid a deepening teacher recruitment crisis.
DfE still ‘intends’ to publish update
When pushed on whether the update would appear before a general election in an exclusive interview with Tes last week, Mr Hinds declined to answer the question directly, instead stating: “We definitely intend to publish the recruitment and retention strategy”.
The existing schools’ recruitment and retention strategy was published in 2019 under former education secretary Mr Hinds. It set out plans to provide more support for early career teachers, and to make it easier to apply to become a teacher.
Tes revealed that the DfE was poised to update the strategy in September 2023, following calls from experts for a review.
Tes then revealed last November that ministers had delayed publication of the updated strategy amid “uncertainty” over future planning and the prime minister’s plans for the Advanced British Standard qualification.
An update, due in winter 2023, was pushed back to spring 2024. But there is yet to be an update.
Sara Tanton, deputy director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We know the DfE has been working on the recruitment and retention strategy for some time, and therefore it’s deeply disappointing that there has been no confirmation of exactly when it will be published.
“Teacher shortages are already having a major impact in schools and colleges across the country; we simply cannot afford any further delays. The DfE needs to tackle this problem as a matter of urgency,” Ms Tanton added.
The continued lack of clarity comes after a report suggested that the government is “at risk of under-recruiting” secondary trainee teachers for 10 out of 17 subjects for next year.
Melanie Renowden, chief executive of the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT), who previously called for a review of the strategy, said: “The school system needs a long-term workforce plan for teaching to focus on retention, the employee offer, professional development and leadership pipelines as well as recruitment. This work must get the urgent attention it deserves.”
Teacher shortages ‘an embarrassment’
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, also wants to see more progress on the update and said that the current teacher supply crisis is “clearly an embarrassment to this government”.
“It reflects their dismal record on education overall, and there is no good reason to further delay action.”
Mr Kebede said it was not “just the delay” to the strategy that was a concern, but also the government’s “unwillingness to think differently”.
The crisis of the current supply situation has also been stressed by Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). He said that the refreshed strategy needed to come “sooner rather than later” as the situation “risks the quality of education that children and young people receive”.
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