Labour pledges more teachers as part of plan to be “party of high and rising standards” after new analysis reveals gaping holes in expert teaching

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will today [Saturday] pledge to make Labour the party of “high and rising standards” in education by ensuring pupils are taught by specialist teachers in each subject, after new analysis by the party revealed alarming gaps in expert teaching in schools. 

Speaking at the National Association of Head Teachers conference, Phillipson will tell delegates that Labour’s mission in education will centre on raising standards across the education system to break down barriers to opportunity across the country. 

Phillipson’s intervention comes as Labour published new analysis showing alarming gaps in expert teaching provision, raising fears that pupil attainment could suffer. Labour’s analysis found that:

• More than one in four Physics lessons in the last year had been taught by a non-expert teacher
• More than one in ten Maths lessons in the last year was taught by a non-expert teacher
• Nearly one in five French, German, Drama and DT lessons in the last year had been taught by a non-expert teacher
• One in three ICT lessons since 2015 were taught by a non-expert teacher 
• The number of hours of DT and Engineering lessons taught by experts fell in the last year

Labour’s intervention comes amid a “perfect storm” in recruitment and retention in the teaching workforce, forcing more and more schools to rely on non-expert teachers. Further analysis by the party found that the following numbers of teachers had no relevant post A Level qualification 

• Two in five Physics teachers 
• One in four Design and Technology teachers 
• One in three Business and Economics teachers 
• One in four Chemistry teachers
• Two in three Computing teachers 
• Half of ICT teachers

Teacher shortages are most acute in STEM subjects: previous Labours analysis showed that the Government has failed to reach its recruitment target for maths teachers in every year since 2012/13.

Labour has previously pledged to recruit thousands more teachers and drive higher standards in schools by investing money raised from ending private schools’ tax breaks in a brilliant state education for all.

Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said:

"We face an unprecedented workforce challenge because of the recruitment and retention crisis created by the Conservative government over the last 13 years.

"Not enough specialist teachers in subjects like maths and physics leaves schools scrambling to fill roles, or asking non-specialist teachers to go above and beyond. That means that high standards are for some of our children, not all of them. 

"Excellence must be for everyone: that is why the next Labour government will invest in more teachers to fill these gaps and provide expertise, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools."

Ends

Notes to editors: 

• Labour’s analysis of the percentage of expert teaching hours taught in England’s schools can be found attached.  

Sources: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a4c6b98c-3dee-43ee-77f1-08db36b2b3ff; 
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/school-workforce-in-england/2021?subjectId=460f78ee-30c8-4206-19a6-08da73c95eee

• The Government has failed to reach its recruitment target for maths teachers in every year since 2012/13. To note, the number of trainees recruited did not meet the required target despite the Department for Education (DfE) its quota for maths trainees in 2022 by 27 per cent, from 2,800 to 2,040.
  
  

  Year	Entrants	Target	% of target achieved
  2012/13	2340	2635	89
  2013/14	2209	2570	86
  2014/15	2186	2495	88
  2015/16	2452	2581	95
  2016/17	2547	3102	82
  2017/18	2384	3102	77
  2018/19	2174	3116	70
  2019/20	2159	3343	65
  2020/21	2794	3307	84
  2021/22	2523	2800	90
  2022/23	1844	2040	90

Sources: 

• 2015/16 - 2022/23 Table_2_subjects_target_time_series https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-census/2022-23
• 2012 - 2015 from: Table 1B. Initial teacher training new entrants by subject and target (detailed breakdown), 2004/05 to 2014/15, revised 1,2,3 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/438698/Main_tables_SFR48_2014.xls
•  
• Teacher vacancies in England have virtually doubled since before Covid, with school leaders increasingly forced to use non-expert teachers, which threatens to drive down pupil attainment, according to a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

Source: Teacher vacancies in England 93% higher than pre-pandemic, study finds | Teacher shortages | The Guardian

• A teacher who qualified in 2010 is 15% more likely to have left teaching within a decade than one who qualified in 2000, according to Labour’s analysis of the most recently available official figures.

Source: Labour says government has created ‘perfect storm’ in England’s teaching workforce | Teacher shortages | The Guardian