Commenting on analysis by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and
UCL Institute of Education (IOE) examining how disadvantaged pupils
in England compare with those in other countries, Geoff Barton,
General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders,
said:
“We have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged students, and the
greatest barrier in doing so is teacher shortages, which are
particularly acute in schools with high levels of disadvantage
because these schools often face the greatest recruitment
challenges.
“It cannot be a coincidence that maths outcomes for disadvantaged
pupils are the most concerning finding in this report given that
teacher shortages are very severe in this subject. The government
missed its trainee teacher recruitment target for maths by more
than 20% last year – the fifth year in a row that it has fallen
short.1
“In addition, schools are under enormous financial pressure
because of government underfunding which means they are less able
to provide additional support to students. This not only makes it
extremely difficult to improve outcomes but also threatens
existing standards.
“Schools are making enormous efforts to close disadvantage gaps
and raise standards in general. The government must do more to
ensure they have the vital resources of teachers and funding –
both of which are in desperately short supply.”
1 Initial teacher training:
trainee number census – 2017 to 2018. Department for
Education. Table 1c.
