Retired teachers could be used to mentor an influx of new recruits to the profession partly caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it has been suggested.

In a discussion at the Conservative Party’s virtual conference today, MP David Johnston, who sits on the Commons Education Select Committee, said retired teachers might help with a lack of available mentors for new staff.

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“When we were in lockdown and we had various sessions of the education committee through the peak Covid period, various people suggested getting retired teachers and headteachers to support the catch-up of pupils because they were going to fall behind from not having been in school,” he said at the event, organised by the National Foundation for Educational Research and the Education Policy Institute.

Mr Johnston said that witnesses to the committee had warned against this, fearing that retired teachers might not be aware of pupils’ current progress or the latest curriculum content.

“I do wonder if there is a role for them here in the mentoring of teachers where there’s a capacity and where you don’t have a trust to support them?” he said.

Sam Twiselton, vice-president of the Chartered College of Teaching, agreed and said that retired teachers’ distance from the “firefighting” within schools could be helpful.

“I mean, that’s exactly the kind of person we used in the Doncaster project [the Doncaster Opportunity Area, which works to improve social mobility in the area] - it was recently retired teachers and actually quite a few headteachers, so they brought so much value to that project,” she said. 

“I think that’s a really good use of the expertise that they have. And actually them being slightly removed from the firefighting in the school context gives them the ability to have that kind of wisdom which is really helpful. I would certainly support anything that could help with that,” she added.

The pandemic and the resultant economic recession has boosted recruitment of new teachers, but Jack Worth, an economist at the NFER, pointed out that the organisation’s recent report found there was a lack of school-based training placements because of the coronavirus. 

The report raised “huge concerns” over schools’ mentoring capacity following a surge in teacher training applications sparked by the Covid-19 crisis.

And Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said school leaders’ awareness of the need to reduce the number of adults in schools would mean fewer experienced teachers available to mentor new staff.

Earlier this month, Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, said there needed to be a national army of retired teachers, Ofsted inspectors and graduates recruited to deliver the government’s catch-up tutoring programme for pupils. 

Panellists also pointed out that the increased recruitment this year might simply mask longer-term structural issues surrounding recruitment and retention in the profession.