NAHT comments on NFER report into impact of teacher training bursaries

Ian Hartwright, head of policy for school leaders' union NAHT, said: "The truth is that bursaries have failed to move the dial on teacher and leadership recruitment and retention over the last decade.   Instead of sticking plaster solutions, NAHT urges government to create a compelling and sustainable career proposition that will encourage high quality graduates to commit to a decades-long career in teaching.

"Central to delivering this is reversing over a decade of pay erosion, restoring pay differentials for experience and leadership, and much stronger autonomy for teachers and leaders as professionals.  This year the STRB was clear about the need for sustained investment to ensure that teaching salaries keep pace with wage growth in the wider economy.

"To resolve the spiralling supply crisis government must also tackle wider systemic issues, including crushing workload and ill health associated with high stakes inspection, insufficient school funding, the pressures created by the disintegration of the health, social care and therapeutic services, and the impact that steeply rising levels of poverty is having on children and families.  Bursaries tackle only the symptoms of the crisis, NAHT looks to government to tackle the causes."