Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the levels of A Level results by county; and what steps she is planning to take to improve standards in areas with lower attainment.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Data on local authority attainment at A level is published in the ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ statistical release. The latest data relates to the 2022/23 academic year and data for the 2023/24 academic year will be published in November 2024. For example, A level headline measures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/13ce6b93-cebf-43e0-b4e4-08dccb80a395.
Ofqual also publish data from A level results day by county, which may be found here: https://analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/Alevel/County/.
High and rising standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances for every child and young person, no matter their background. The department want an education system in which all children and young people can achieve and thrive and develop the skills to seize the opportunities they need to succeed in work and life.
The quality of teaching and leaders are the biggest determinants of outcomes for learners within schools and colleges. This government has moved quickly to start driving up standards by beginning work to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers and have already launched an independent, expert-led curriculum and assessment review. Spanning from age 5 through to age 18, the review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve. The government is also determined to continue to strengthen school and college leadership and development opportunities for staff across the profession.
Regional improvement teams, to be launched early 2025, will help drive high and rising standards. These teams will encourage and foster improvement across the system enabling schools and trusts to support each other, learn from their peers and share best practice. To drive up standards across the country, all state-funded schools will be able to draw on these new regional improvement teams for help accessing and understanding the array of available improvement programmes proven to make a real impact.
Regional improvement teams will also work with schools to utilise new school report cards for schools to identify where they are performing well and where there are areas of improvement.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address teacher shortages.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, but we must do more to ensure we have the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country, which is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers with a focus on key shortage subjects.
The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why the department has accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from this September.
The department wants to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession. It is committed to resetting the relationship with the teaching profession. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has already spoken to various stakeholders and teachers working at the front end and continues to do so. The department is now developing the Social Partnership to work more closely with the sector unions to ensure they have a stronger voice on policies that affect their work.
Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and we are continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, we are also offering a Targeted Retention Incentive worth 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.
Recruiting more teachers is a key part of the department’s Opportunity Mission. This government is also committed to tackling long standing retention challenges to ensure teachers stay and thrive in the profession, including by addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department has made key resources available to help teachers better manage their workload.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in Stratford-on-Avon constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but we must do more to ensure we have the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country, which is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.
The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and that teachers get the pay they deserve. This is why the department has accepted, in full, the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from this September.
The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding, in the 2024/25 financial year, to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.
Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, in the first five years of their careers, also receive retention payments if they are working in disadvantaged schools. In the 2023/24 academic year, two schools in the Stratford-on-Avon constituency were eligible for these retention payments.
To further help teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is also addressing teacher workload and wellbeing and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices.
The department has also established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. Tudor Grange Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Bromsgrove, Redditch, Solihull and Stratford-on-Avon.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of the planned new teachers will be allocated to schools in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England, but the government must do more to ensure it has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country, which is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.
The department is developing its approach so that it can be clear on its target and held accountable against that target, with a focus on key subjects and in places where it is needed most. The department will share further details in due course.
The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why the government has accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September.
The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.
Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, who are in the first five years of their careers, also receive retention payments if working in disadvantaged schools. In the 2023/24 academic year, 55 schools in the Lincolnshire Local Authority area were eligible for these retention payments.
To further help teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is also addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. The Flexible Working Ambassador Multi-Academy Trusts and Schools (FWAMS) Programme offers support to schools across every region in England to help implement flexible working. Schools in Lincolnshire that are interested in receiving tailored peer support can contact the Hales Valley Trust, which is the Flexible Working Ambassador for the East Midlands.
The department has also established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. L.E.A.D Teaching School Hub and DRET Teaching School Hub are centres of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Lincolnshire.
Asked by: Jon Pearce (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in High Peak constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, but the department must do more to ensure it has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.
The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, and teachers receive the pay they deserve. This is why the department has accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September.
The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, over and above the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.
Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing also receive retention payments if working in disadvantaged schools in the first five years of their careers. In the 2023/34 academic year, five schools in the High Peak constituency were eligible for these retention payments.
To further help teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. The Flexible Working Ambassador Multi-Academy Trusts and Schools Programme offers support to schools across every region in England to help implement flexible working. Schools in High Peak that are interested in receiving tailored peer support can either approach the dedicated Ambassador for the East Midlands region or contact the national delivery provider to be matched with specialist support.
The department has also established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. Potentia Teaching School Hub and Spencer Teaching School Hub are centres of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Amber Valley, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, High Peak, North East Derbyshire, Derby, Erewash and South Derbyshire.
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 (Education)
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 (Education)
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: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the amount of time teachers are allocated to undertake (a) planning, (b) preparation and (c) assessment.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All teachers who participate in the teaching of pupils are entitled to reasonable periods of planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time, which is a minimum of 10% of their timetable.
This government is committed to resetting the relationship between the government and education profession in order to improve the experience of being a teacher. In July, alongside delivering a fully-funded 5.5% pay award, we clarified that teachers can use PPA time at home, to provide greater flexibility for teachers.
The department knows that improving workload will play a key role in recruiting and retaining excellent teachers and leaders, which will support the government’s mission to transform the education system so that all children and young people get the skills, care and opportunities they deserve.
The department is now considering all options for future policy interventions to improve teacher workload and wellbeing to help deliver on the government’s ambition to recruit 6,500 additional new teachers, and is working with partners across the sector to achieve this.
Asked by: Lord Hardie (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish a new recruitment and retention strategy to address the shortage of teachers in England; and if so, what that strategy will include.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department knows that high quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education, which is why this government will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.
The department is developing its approach and putting plans in place to achieve this, which will be shared publicly in due course. The department have taken the first steps towards delivering this pledge by restarting and expanding the teacher recruitment campaign, entitled ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’. The department is dedicated to delivering change in partnership with the sector and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State recently addressed over 14,000 people from the workforce and has committed to working alongside the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession, and one that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join.
Alongside this work, the department is delivering key programmes to improve teacher recruitment and retention. It knows that financial incentives are one of the ways to increase teacher supply and this year the initial teacher training financial incentives package is worth up to £196 million.
Fair pay is key to ensuring teaching is an attractive and respected profession, which is why this government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September 2024.
The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at the national level, the teacher pay award and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, over and above the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.
Alongside pay, the department is also continuing to support mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who chose to work in disadvantaged schools with retention payments worth up to £3,000 after tax.
Recruiting more teachers is a key part of the department’s Opportunity Mission, but this government is also committed to tackling long-standing retention challenges to ensure teachers stay and thrive in the profession, including by addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department have also made key resources available to help teachers better manage their workload.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve recruitment and retention rates of teachers in schools in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education, therefore delivering the government’s agenda to break down the barriers to opportunity relies on a highly skilled workforce in schools.
There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. However, the department needs to do more to recruit additional teachers, especially in shortage subjects in secondary schools, which is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.
Financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply. The department’s initial teacher training financial incentives package this year is worth up to £196 million, including bursaries of up to £28,000 tax free for trainees in mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. Although the minimum starting salary for teachers in Lincolnshire increased to £30,000 from 2023/24, the department knows fair pay going forward is key to ensuring teaching is an attractive and respected profession. This is why this government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September.
The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding, in financial year 2024/25, to support schools with overall costs. This matches what we have calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award and the support staff pay offer in financial year 2024/25, over and above the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.
Recruiting more teachers is a key part of the opportunity mission, but this government is also committed to tackling long-standing retention challenges to ensure teachers stay and thrive in the profession. This is why the department is continuing to support mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers, who chose to work in disadvantaged schools, through retention payments worth up to £3,000 after tax. For the 2023/24 academic year, teachers in 55 schools in the Lincolnshire local authority were eligible for these retention payments.
To further help retention, the department is also addressing teacher workload and wellbeing and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. Lapal School of Hales Valley Trust, as one of the department’s flexible working ambassador schools, is helping schools across East Midlands and Lincolnshire to introduce flexible working practices.
In addition, local teaching school hubs, including the L.E.A.D Teaching School Hub and DRET Teaching Hub, are supporting schools across Lincolnshire to deliver teacher training and development.