Commenting on data released by the Department for Education
today, covering the school workforce as well as children,
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
“The latest information confirms that the serious and deep-rooted
teacher recruitment and retention problems remain. On a range of
measures, it is clear that the problems are getting worse - even
before the impact of the Government's plans to cut the value of
teacher pay.
“The number of newly-qualified entrants is lower than in every
year but one since 2012, despite a large boost to the number of
teacher trainees in 2020/21. The number of teachers moving
out of service increased by almost a fifth compared with the
previous year. The number of teachers leaving within their first
year has increased to 1 in 8. The number of teachers leaving last
year increased to 36,262 up by more than four thousand on the
year before, despite a reduction in the number of teachers
retiring. Almost a quarter of teachers leave the profession
within three years and almost a third within five years. This
reflects the findings of our own surveys and is not a sustainable
situation.
“Pupil:teacher ratios have not improved in the primary sector
despite the fall in primary pupil numbers, and have increased in
the secondary sector. This adds to the already critical
problems caused by excessive workload.
“The Government plans more real terms cuts to teacher pay, adding
to the cuts of around a fifth since 2010. Pay cuts, and the
failure of the Government to tackle excessive workload, are bound
to intensify recruitment and retention problems that are already
critical. This will cause serious damage to education, so
urgent action to address these problems is vital for parents and
young people as well as for teachers. Instead of planning to cut
pay again, the Government must protect teachers and other
educators by implementing fully-funded and inflation-proofed cost
of living increases across all pay scales.”
