The target for teacher training in secondary subjects has been missed according to new government data, with levels falling to below 2019 pre-pandemic numbers.

Overall, 82 per cent of the postgraduate initial teacher training target was achieved in secondary subjects compared with 103 per cent in 2020/21 and 83 per cent in 2019/20.

The data also showed that there were 37,069 new entrants starting a postgraduate ITT programme in 2021-22, a decrease of 8 per cent on 2020-21 figures last year, but a 10 per cent increase on 2019-20.

News: Teacher training applications drop to pre-Covid levels

Background: Covid ‘surge’ in teaching applications over, heads warn

Return to pre-Covid: Covid surge in ITT applications ‘could be over’

Walker: Teacher development and recruitment are key

The government said there had been an “unprecedented increase in new entrants to ITT” in 2020-21 which was “likely to be a direct result” of the pandemic.

But this year, three out of five trainee targets for science, technology, engineering and maths subjects were missed. Physics saw the lowest number of trainees, with only 567 new entrants to the subject, comprising just 22 per cent of the 2530 target, followed by computing which saw just 69 per cent (581) of the 840 target set for the subject, while maths entrants missed its 2800 target by 5 per cent.

Recruitment targets were also missed for business studies, geography, modern foreign languages and design technology, but exceeded for history, English, biology, chemistry and Classics.

Earlier this year, the Department for Education reversed a decision to cut bursaries for certain subjects after recruitment plateaued in the wake of the pandemic.

In 2020-21, chemistry, computing, maths, physics, biology, languages and Classics trainees could all apply for bursaries of £26,000, but the offer changed for the 2021-22 cohort as the Covid crisis sparked a boom in teacher recruitment, leading the government to reduce bursaries for chemistry, computing, maths and physics to £24,000, while languages and Classics students were eligible for just £10,000.

In these subjects, only chemistry and Classics have not missed their targets this year.

Overall, 136 per cent of the recruitment target was achieved in primary, a target which has been exceeded in four of the last five years.

Increase starting salaries 

James Zuccollo, director for School Workforce at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said it was clear from the data that the Covid boost to the attractiveness of teaching was over and said an increase in starting salaries is the best way to tackle the decline.

“Today’s figures show that the huge rise in teacher training numbers seen in the 2020-2021 school year driven by the Covid-induced recession has now subsided.

“Historical trends tell us that when the economic picture of a country improves, fewer graduates are likely to go into teaching, but the speed of the national recovery and improvement of the wider UK labour market have meant that this drop-off in teacher recruitment numbers has occurred much more suddenly than expected.

“While there have been some improvements, recruitment problems remain most severe in shortage subjects like physics, chemistry, maths, and modern languages. Increasing teachers’ starting salaries remains the most promising approach to quickly improving this outlook. The government has committed to boosting starting salaries, but this has been delayed.”

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the missed targets on secondary teachers “was no surprise” as the pandemic boost to applications had been undermined by the pay freeze and underfunding of schools ”which has left teachers effectively doing more work for less pay in real terms.”

“The impact is clear with very severe under-recruitment of trainee teachers in key subjects such as physics, computing, and modern foreign languages,” he said.

“We welcome the government’s commitment to raise starting salaries to £30,000 - though the pay freeze has delayed its implementation.

“But there needs to be an improvement in pay across the board to retain teachers, and pay awards must be fully funded by the government rather than falling on school budgets which cannot take any more pressure,” he added.

Supply challenges 

Jack Worth, National Foundation For Educational Research’s school workforce lead, said the figures are “a clear sign” there are “considerable teacher supply challenges again” and that under-recruitment in secondary “is similar to the level in the year before the pandemic”.

However, he cautioned that some target recruitment levels, such as in physics, “seemed even further out of reach” because of changes to the way the DfE sets its targets.
 
Teachers’ leaders said that the data showed subject shortages are “stubbornly” set to continue.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Successive Conservative governments have fallen short of their own teacher training targets year on year - 2021 is no different.

“Targets for secondary were met in 2020 but this turns out to have been just a pandemic effect: today’s figures are even worse than 2019.

“Subject shortages stubbornly continue, particularly physics but also maths, geography, modern foreign languages and computing.”

Pressure points

Mr Courtney said that an additional 18,682 teachers needed to be recruited to restore the ratios of pupils to qualified teachers to 2015 levels, while by 2025 secondary numbers were set to increase by 5 per cent, with class sizes in secondary schools on the rise.

“These pressure points cannot be ignored for much longer,” he said.

He added that the prospects of a teaching career looked “increasingly unattractive” to onlookers and that the issues of high workload, excess accountability and pay that did not keep up with inflation was leading to an exodus of staff.

“The role of government in depressed recruitment and poor retention is all too clear,” he said.

“They need to act on workload, for example by pulling Ofsted out of schools still struggling to recover from Covid.

“They also need to get real about pay. A £30,000 starting salary must come soon before its appeal is completely eroded by inflation. A commensurate pay rise to support staff and supply staff is also essential.”

Last week, initial teacher training applications were shown to have dropped below pre-pandemic levels in 2019, with economist Jack Worth, who completed the analysis using data from Ucas, saying that it was a warning over the future of teacher supply.

Speaking at the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) annual conference this week, Mr Worth said: “This is particularly concerning because it’s not only reverting to pre-Covid but actually being a bit more competitive than even before that.

“If that is continued into next year, we’re facing a really difficult year.”