Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts
Monday 28th January 2019

(5 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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The national funding formula contains an area cost adjustment that takes into account the cost pressures of employing both teachers and non-teachers in such areas. This strategy involves £130 million of new funding, because we strongly believe that we want teachers in the second year of their careers to have time off- timetable so that they can develop their teaching skills with support from a mentor and teacher training programmes.

Lilian Greenwood Portrait Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
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It is welcome that the strategy finally acknowledges the need to tackle excessive workloads for teachers if we are to bring the recruitment and retention crisis to an end. Given that secondary school pupil numbers are set to rise by 15% in the next decade, can the Minister guarantee that the funding that our schools need to implement the strategy will be provided quickly and effectively?

Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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The funding will be provided when the strategy is fully rolled out in September 2021. We are rolling it out earlier, in September 2020, to Bradford, Doncaster, Greater Manchester and the north-east—I think I said Bristol earlier, but I actually meant Bradford. The strategy will be fully funded, and £130 million has been agreed with the Treasury despite the fact that it goes into the next spending review period.