Education secretary Gavin Williamson says “truly amazing” teachers could be attracted to the profession as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Williamson was giving evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which published in its 30th report today, when he said it was likely that employment in the public sector would “be an attractive option in the short to medium term” due to the impact of Covid-19.
The STRB, an independent body that advises on teacher pay, today recommends that, from September, new teachers should receive a 5.5 per cent pay increase while senior teachers will receive 2.75 per cent.
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It also states that the Bank of England expects unemployment to rise to 9 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, and says Covid-19 will lead to “a significant contraction of the economy” and that it is “uncertain how quickly these will recover.”
But latest data from Ucas (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) shows a 4.2 per cent rise in applications for postgraduate ITT courses in May this year compared to last year, says the report.
It states: “During oral representations, officials from the Department [for Education] told us that it was too early to judge the longer-term economic effects of Covid-19 and its impact on the labour market.”
But it adds: “The secretary of state told us that it was likely that employment in the public sector would be an attractive option in the short to medium term due to the impact on Covid-19 and that this would provide an opportunity to attract ‘truly amazing’ teachers to the profession”.
The report also cites figures following the 2008 global financial crisis when postgraduate ITT targets were exceeded.
Last month, schools minister Nick Gibb said there had been a “surge” in the number of teacher training applications in lockdown, and that “talented” people from industry were among those expressing interest in plugging the shortage of maths and physics teachers.
