Schools have an “insufficient number of high-quality teachers” resulting in “poor educational outcomes for pupils”, according to the Department for Education’s annual report published this afternoon.
The report says that this remains “a high risk” to the “government’s objective that all children and young people have access to a high-quality education”.
However, the DfE is recruiting increasing numbers of trainees each year and is “working to improve the attractiveness of the profession”, according to the report.
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Key actions to address the situation include the proposal to allow salaries for new teachers to rise to £30,000 by 2022-23 as well as the roll-out of the Early Career Framework being “on track”.
The report states: “Our national marketing and communication campaign continues to offer practical assistance to both new recruits and those returning to the profession.
“On workload, the 2019 Teacher Workload Survey reported that teachers, middle and senior leaders’ working hours had fallen by five hours per week since 2016. This suggests that the Department’s work with the profession to tackle workload is starting to make a real difference in schools.
“Further steps on tackling workload include enhancements to the online toolkit, which provides tools and practical advice for managing workload challenges.”
The report, which covers the year to 31 March 2020, reveals there are 453,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state schools - up by 1,000 on the previous year.
The costs of high-needs education are also identified as high-risk by the DfE in the annual report.
