Commenting on the Education Select Committee’s report into the
recruitment and retention of teachers, Chris Keates,
General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in
the UK, said:
“The NASUWT has been presenting evidence of the deepening teacher
recruitment crisis for some time but the Government is in denial.
“The Public Accounts Committee and now the Education Select
Committee have both warned that ministers have no clear plan to
address these issues and that the Government’s analysis of
current and future teacher supply needs is seriously flawed.
“This report should act as a wake-up call to ministers that
falling back on sticking plaster solutions such as the failed
National Teaching Service will do nothing to address the systemic
causes of the teacher supply crisis.
“It is the Government’s own policies which have resulted in
excessive and increasing teacher workloads, dwindling pay,
starting salaries which are increasingly uncompetitive with other
graduate professions and the relentless pressure of the
high-stakes accountability regime. These factors are driving
existing teachers out of the profession, sapped of energy and
enthusiasm for the job, and deterring new entrants.
“The committee is clear that we have a serious national teacher
recruitment and retention issue which is affecting all subjects
and all localities.
“In the face of the overwhelming and growing evidence of the
problem, the Government must face up to the crisis it has
created.”
