Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
teacher shortages in schools in England, and what plans they have
to address the issue.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, there are nearly 468,400 full-time equivalent teachers
in state-funded schools in England, 27,000 more than in 2010 and
the highest number since the school workforce census began. In
July, the Government fully accepted the School Teachers’ Review
Body’s pay recommendations, giving teachers and leaders the
highest pay award in over 30 years—6.5%. This is a competitive
salary and will help us to build on the record numbers of
teachers in our schools.
(Lab)
My Lords, on Monday we discussed the literally crumbling school
estate and, today, the shockingly high teacher shortages. It
seems that the entire school system is creaking at the seams,
with our children paying the price. Almost one in 10 of the total
teacher workforce in England resigned last year: 40,000 teachers
left the profession and 4,000 retired. There are shortages across
the board including in maths, science, modern languages, English,
business studies and DT. Does the Minister have a plan and
timetable to address these shortages?
(Con)
In mentioning the number of people leaving the profession, the
noble Baroness omitted to mention the number entering the
profession last year. There were 48,000 entrants, including
16,700
returning to the profession. I remind the House that the vacancy
rate for teachers is 2.8%, which remains extremely low. However,
I recognise that there are shortages in certain subjects and in
certain parts of the country, which is why we are targeting our
bursaries on them. I remind the noble Baroness that we should be
proud in this country that the work of our teachers has resulted
in us rising up the international rankings in primary reading,
from 8th in 2016 to 4th in 2021—the highest in the western
world.
(LD)
My Lords, the number of teacher vacancies has doubled in two
years. The number of students wanting to go into teaching has
declined by 79%. We then have the issue of specialist subjects;
for example, there are 400 schools where there is no qualified
physics teacher. Increasingly, we see our children being taught
by supply teachers, which is not the best way to teach young
people. How have we managed to get into such a situation? Did we
not see this coming, and should we not have put together a plan
to avert this crisis?
(Con)
First, I do not accept that it is a crisis. Secondly, if the
noble Lord looks at the long-term numbers on this, in subjects
such as mathematics, which is raised frequently in the House, in
2014-15 we had 75.8% specialist teachers. That is now 78.6%.
There are subjects like physics where it has gone down slightly,
but this has been a long-term issue, and I thank our teachers and
leaders for the work they do to make our schools as good as they
are.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register as a
trustee of a large state secondary school in High Wycombe. What
consideration is being given to extending the area covered by the
London fringe allowance, given the increasing challenges of
teacher recruitment in urban areas outside of London,
particularly areas like High Wycombe?
(Con)
I am very happy to take the noble Lord’s point back to the
department. I am aware that teacher mobility is much greater in
London than in some other parts of the country. I appreciate that
that represents challenges for schools, but I will take his
specific point back.
(Lab)
In 2018, the Minister’s own department published an analysis of
why teachers were leaving the profession. Two of the reasons were
being overworked and a feeling that they were unloved. This
afternoon, she paid tribute to the profession for their
achievements, which I welcome, but does she really think that the
intemperate remarks of the Secretary of State yesterday give
confidence to teachers, headteachers and schools that Ministers
really value what they do?
(Con)
I am aware that the Secretary of State has apologised for her
remarks. Working closely with her and my right honourable friend
the Minister for School Standards, I can absolutely assure
the House that we barely have a conversation where we do not
express our gratitude to teachers and school leaders. We take
workload very seriously and are continuing to work with the
unions on that following the pay agreement.
(Con)
My Lords, on the subject of intemperate behaviour, does my noble
friend share my disgust that the Labour Party put out a message
that the Prime Minister did not care about the safety of our
children in schools? On issues such as the ones she has dealt
with so well, we do not need people making party political
points.
(Con)
I think the serious point here is that there is a serious
situation in the handful of schools where we have had to
intervene on the concrete. Of course, it could not be more
inaccurate and unhelpful to criticise the Prime Minister
personally in this regard.
of Knighton (CB)
My Lords, does the Minister accept that there is a particular
problem with music teachers in schools, and that the shortage,
coupled with the decline in people taking GSCE music, is really
very worrying?
(Con)
I know that the noble Lord has worked very hard in this area. We
still have 81.1% of music lessons being delivered by
quality—qualified; I am sure they are all quality—music teachers.
That is down, as the noble Lord says, from 87.7% in 2014-15. I am
delighted that the noble Lord is meeting with the Minister for
School Standards to progress ideas on how we can encourage more
children to be able to study music in school.
(Con)
My Lords, in the last academic year, 94,900 children were listed
as missing from education. The recruitment and retention of
teachers is hugely important, but so is that of child welfare
officers. Will the Minister recommit to the recruitment and
retention of those? The issue of children missing from education
has been much more prevalent since Covid, and they are vital in
tackling that long-term problem.
(Con)
My noble friend makes an important point. We are extremely
concerned about the specific issue of children missing from
education and, more broadly, about the impact that Covid has had
on school attendance. Yesterday, the Secretary of State and the
Minister for School Standards met the Attendance Action Alliance,
trying to address exactly these issues and learning from best
practice around the country.
(CB)
My Lords, given the shortage that we heard about earlier of
specialist teachers in subjects such as physics, what is the
department able to do to broker partnerships with independent
schools where teachers are available perhaps to enable pupils to
study these subjects remotely so that they can gain the
qualifications they want and enter the professions where these
roles are so badly needed?
(Con)
The noble Baroness makes a good point. We are extremely
supportive of partnerships between independent schools and
state-funded schools. That cuts across a wide range of areas, of
which specialist teaching is just one. What I hear from
independent schools when I talk to them about this issue is that
it is very much a two-way street. It is not just about
independent schools sharing their resources with their
neighbouring schools. It is very much in both directions, and
both groups benefit.
The (CB)
My Lords, following on from the question from the noble Lord,
, if, as is clearly the case,
bursaries are an effective driver of teacher recruitment, will
the Government reintroduce them for arts subjects, including art
and design and music, where recruitment is now falling well short
of their targets—less than 60% in both these subject areas?
(Con)
We always keep these issues under review, but our assessment at
the moment is that the greatest pressures are in some regional
areas—hence our levelling-up premiums—and in certain specific
subjects, which I know the noble Earl is familiar with, which
those are.
