Teachers: Training
(asked on 7th July 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of his Department's Statistics on initial teacher training, updated on 21 April 2022; and if he will make a statement.
The number of teachers remains high, with more than 465,000 working in state-funded schools across the country, 24,000 more than in 2010[1].
As set out in the initial teacher training (ITT) census (academic year 2021/22[2]), the percentage of the postgraduate ITT (PGITT) target achieved for all subjects (secondary and primary) was 101%. 136% of the PGITT target was achieved in primary, this target has been exceeded in four of the last five years. Overall, 82% of the PGITT target was achieved in secondary subjects.
Department targets, as estimated by the teacher workforce model (TWM), are for 32,600 postgraduate teacher trainees (11,655 primary and 20,945 secondary) to start their ITT in autumn 2022 (including high performance ITT (HPITT) trainees)[3]. As of 20 June 2022, 20,270 candidates have been accepted onto postgraduate courses in England (excluding HPITT): 10,164 primary and 10,106 secondary[4]. Acceptance figures exclude HPITT acceptances, as this data is not published. It is expected that more candidates will be recruited in the final three months of the cycle. Therefore, although acceptance figures provide a better indication of the number of teacher trainees starting training in October 2022, they are not directly comparable to TWM trainee targets.
The departments knows there is further to go in some secondary subjects and that teacher recruitment remains challenging. That is why we have put in place a range of measures for trainees in 2021 and 2022, including bursaries worth up to £24,000 and scholarships worth up to £26,000, to encourage talented trainees to apply to train in key subjects such as chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics. The department reviews the funding we offer for trainee teachers starting ITT each year. In doing this, we take account of historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject.
The department continues to invest in attracting the best teachers where they are needed the most, through our teaching marketing campaign and support services for prospective trainees. We are also exploring new ways to recruit trainee teachers in subjects where there are shortages. For example, the department is introducing a new scholarship to attract the most talented language graduates to the profession, and we are piloting a new ITT course designed to support more engineers to teach physics.
Performance in teacher recruitment is significantly driven by wider economic conditions, notably the buoyancy of the graduate recruitment market. Teaching must compete against other private, third and public sector careers for high-quality graduate talent. Graduate salaries and jobs are increasing, which has a considerable impact on the competitiveness of the teaching profession.
[3] Postgraduate initial teacher training targets: 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[4] Acceptances- up to 20th June 2022 excluding HPITT (sum of recruited and pending conditions), Initial teacher training application statistics for courses starting in the 2022 to 2023 academic year - Apply for teacher training - GOV.UK (apply-for-teacher-training.service.gov.uk)