Angela Rayner comments on Government missing the teacher recruitment target for sixth consecutive year

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, commenting on the fact that the Government missed the teacher recruitment target for the sixth consecutive year, said:

“The Conservatives have created a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, and now we know they have missed their own teacher recruitment target six years in a row.

“Years of real terms pay cuts have made it impossible for schools to recruit the staff they need, and there will be a generation of children paying the price for Tory failure.

“The next Labour government will give our schools the funding they need, give teachers the pay rise they deserve and end the Tory crisis in teacher recruitment as part of a National Education Service.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• The Government’s own data, published today (Thursday 29^th November) shows that the teacher recruitment target has been missed again, marking six consecutive years that the target has not been met. 
  See Department for Education, Initial teacher training: trainee number census – 2018 to 2019, Main tables, table 1b
  https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2018-to-2019

• The target had been missed in each of the last five years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-42181703