Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reduction in the number of university degree courses on modern foreign languages.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of Jisc, collects and publishes data on student enrolments across all UK higher education (HE) providers. This includes data on full person equivalents enrolled in different subject areas, categorised using the HE coding of subjects system. Counts of enrolments across all subjects from 2019/20 to 2022/23 are published in Table 52 of HESA’s Student Data, which can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-52.
Table 52 can be used to determine that there were 34,840 entrants to a HE course in ‘language and area studies’ in the 2022/23 academic year and of these, 11,245 were studying a language or culture other than English, down by 12% from 2020/21. In the absence of a clear definition of ‘modern foreign languages’, all non-English languages have been included for completeness.
Analysing the HESA student record, the department estimates that there were 4,845 courses in ‘languages and area studies’, excluding English studies, with at least one enrolment in 2022/23, down from 5,590 in 2020/21. The HESA data only includes courses where students have enrolled, so it is not possible to quantify the number of courses being offered with no enrolments.
HE providers are autonomous and independent institutions. This means they are ultimately responsible for the decisions that they make with regards to which courses they choose to deliver.
Asked by: Jon Pearce (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in High Peak constituency by teachers without a relevant (i) A-level and (ii) higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Information on the school workforce, including subjects taught in state-funded secondary schools, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
National estimates of the total number of hours taught for each subject are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b9970602-8643-43bd-ba9c-08dcafcfd634.
The proportion of those hours that were taught by teachers without a relevant post A-level or higher level qualification are available nationally at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/5bbdd9e0-77ad-49e2-ba9d-08dcafcfd634.
Timetabled teaching is reported for a typical week in November, as determined by the school. It does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the department.
Subject taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce data in the format required. Data is then weighted to provide national estimates. Breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are, therefore, not available.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the bursary for trainee modern foreign language teachers from £25,000 to £28,000, in line with the bursaries available for science, technology and mathematics subjects.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education and there are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. Nevertheless, the department knows that there is further to go to get more teachers into certain subjects, including modern foreign languages. This is why the department will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers and focus its support on subjects where it is needed most. The department will support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues.
The department already has in place a range of measures specifically for modern foreign languages. This includes bursaries of £25,000 and scholarships of £27,000 for French, Spanish and German. The total initial teacher training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
The department reviews bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes account of several factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. The department will continue to review the way bursaries are allocated to ensure it is supporting teacher sufficiency and spending money where it is needed most.
As well as working to recruit the best languages graduates domestically, the department is supporting recruitment of skilled graduates from overseas. The department’s ITT bursaries and scholarships are available to all non-UK trainees in languages. This means that for the 2024/25 academic year, international language trainees are eligible for bursaries worth £25,000 and scholarships worth £27,000. An international relocation payment is also available for non-UK teachers of languages starting in the 2024/25 academic year and is worth up to £10,000.
The department is also committed to tackling retention and has made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department’s ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, includes a workload reduction toolkit to support schools to identify opportunities to cut excessive workload. It also includes the education staff wellbeing charter, which sets out commitments from the government, Ofsted, schools, and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff so that teachers not only remain in the profession, but thrive in it.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their response to the calculation, published by the National Education Union, on 9 November 2023, that there is a shortfall of almost 4000 qualified teachers of modern foreign languages, based on the Department for Education's School Workforce Census of subject specialist teachers with a post A-level qualification in their English Baccalaureate subject.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education and there are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. Nevertheless, the department knows that there is further to go to get more teachers into certain subjects, including modern foreign languages. This is why the department will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers and focus its support on subjects where it is needed most. The department will support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues.
The department already has in place a range of measures specifically for modern foreign languages. This includes bursaries of £25,000 and scholarships of £27,000 for French, Spanish and German. The total initial teacher training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
The department reviews bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes account of several factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. The department will continue to review the way bursaries are allocated to ensure it is supporting teacher sufficiency and spending money where it is needed most.
As well as working to recruit the best languages graduates domestically, the department is supporting recruitment of skilled graduates from overseas. The department’s ITT bursaries and scholarships are available to all non-UK trainees in languages. This means that for the 2024/25 academic year, international language trainees are eligible for bursaries worth £25,000 and scholarships worth £27,000. An international relocation payment is also available for non-UK teachers of languages starting in the 2024/25 academic year and is worth up to £10,000.
The department is also committed to tackling retention and has made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department’s ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, includes a workload reduction toolkit to support schools to identify opportunities to cut excessive workload. It also includes the education staff wellbeing charter, which sets out commitments from the government, Ofsted, schools, and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff so that teachers not only remain in the profession, but thrive in it.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough and Rushden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Wellingborough constituency by teachers without a relevant (i) A-level and (ii) higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Information on the school workforce, including subjects taught in state-funded secondary schools, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The total number of hours taught for each subject are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/e2daf3ac-54a6-4b06-16e6-08dc75fe4005.
The proportion of those hours that were taught by teachers without a relevant post A level or higher level qualification are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/53228608-dd97-4fc0-0b82-08dc74c3bb80.
Timetabled teaching is reported for a typical week in November, as determined by the school. It does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the department.
Subject taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce data in the format required. Data is then weighted to provide national totals. Breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are not available.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase recruitment of teachers of (a) physics, (b) modern foreign languages and (c) other specialist subjects.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.
Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.
Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.
The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects to meet recruitment targets for (a) physics and (b) modern foreign languages at secondary school level.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.
Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.
Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.
The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of secondary school trainee teachers of (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) foreign languages, (d) religious education, (e) mathematics and (f) computing have been recruited to begin training in Autumn 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Departmental targets for 2024/25 postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT) were calculated by the Teacher Workforce Model (TWM) and include recruitment to High Potential ITT (HPITT) which is a two year employment-based ITT programme attracting high performing graduates and career changers who are unlikely to have otherwise joined the profession. The targets are calculated to replace all teachers expected to leave the workforce in 2025/26, and the working hours lost from teachers that will reduce their teaching hours between years. PGITT is only one of many routes into the teacher workforce, all of which are considered when calculating targets. Other routes include undergraduate university courses, Assessment Only (AO), the upcoming teacher degree apprenticeship, returners, new to the state-funded sector entrants, and newly qualified entrants that defer entry into the profession (deferrers).
Further information may be found in the following publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/postgraduate-initial-teacher-training-targets.
Departmental targets are for 23,955 secondary teacher trainees to start their initial teacher training (ITT) in autumn 2024, including HPITT trainees. As of last month, there have been 7,618 acceptances to postgraduate secondary courses in England (excluding HPITT acceptances).
Acceptance figures exclude HPITT acceptances as this data is not published. It is expected that more candidates will be recruited in the final four months of the cycle. Therefore, although acceptance figures provide a better indication of the number of teacher trainees starting training in Autumn 2024, they are not directly comparable to TWM trainee targets.
The physics TWM trainee target is 2,250 (incl. HPITT) and currently there have been 554 acceptances (excl. HPITT).
The chemistry TWM trainee target is 1,220 (incl. HPITT) and currently there have been 314 acceptances (excl. HPITT).
The modern foreign languages TWM trainee target is 2,540 (incl. HPITT) and currently there have been 622 acceptances (excl. HPITT).
The religious education TWM trainee target is 580 (incl. HPITT) and currently there have been 198 acceptances (excl. HPITT).
The mathematics TWM trainee target is 3,065 (incl. HPITT) and currently there have been 1,001 acceptances (excl. HPITT).
The computing TWM trainee target is 1,330 (incl. HPITT) and currently there have been 202 acceptances (excl. HPITT).
One of the department’s top priorities is to ensure that it continues to attract and retain high-quality teachers. The department is investing in attracting the best teachers where they are needed the most, through its teaching marketing campaign, support services for prospective trainees, and financial incentives package including bursaries worth up to £28,000 and scholarships worth up to £30,000. The department’s in-house teacher recruitment journey and associated digital services are generating new real-time data and insight to drive innovation. For example, the department has now rolled out an ITT course specifically designed to support more engineers to teach physics.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of the proportion of time spent by secondary school teachers spending teaching subjects they are not trained in.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
There is currently the highest number of teachers on record. There are now over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The most recent School Workforce Census shows that almost 9 in 10 (87.4%) hours taught in English Baccalaureate subjects were taught by a teacher with a specialism in that subject. Overall, teachers spent a total of 3 in 5 teaching hours (63.7%) teaching the English Baccalaureate subjects of mathematics, English, sciences (including computer science), history, geography and modern languages. The School Workforce Census is available online at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Further information on the numbers and proportions of hours taught by teachers with relevant specialism in state-funded secondary schools in England in November 2022 can be found in the census publication at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f8c83028-7cce-463b-4c97-08dc5d297e6b.
The department recognises that there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects and to ensure that more teaching is done by teachers with a specialism in the relevant subject. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including increased bursaries worth up to £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, and the department’s financial incentives package for the 2024/25 initial teacher training recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
Additionally, the department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Last year the department accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders. This means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received a pay award of 6.5%, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years. The 2023/24 award also delivered the manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country.
The department also funds a number of subject-specific curriculum hubs, in subjects such as mathematics, sciences and languages, where schools can access more targeted training and development for their teachers, including those teaching out of specialism.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the proposed new British Sign Language GCSE will count towards the English Baccalaureate to ensure it is seen by schools as holding the same weight as other languages.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department published British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE subject content in December 2023, following a public consultation last summer. Exam boards are now able to develop detailed specifications, which must be reviewed and accredited by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) before schools and colleges are able to teach them. The department does not play a role in developing or approving exam board specifications for GCSEs.
Only ancient or modern foreign language (MFL) GCSEs count towards the languages pillar of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). The BSL GCSE does not sit in the MFL suite as it is not a foreign language but an indigenous one and does not contain the speaking and listening elements common to all MFL GCSEs. While the BSL GCSE will therefore not count towards the EBacc, it will be a rigorous qualification that is internationally recognised and accepted in school and college performance tables.
The department is considering the steps that can be taken to support the delivery of the BSL GCSE when it is introduced, such as engaging with initial teacher training providers. The department also expects stakeholder organisations and exam boards to play an important role in supporting the teaching workforce to deliver the BSL GCSE.