Commenting on the Government’s response to the House of Commons
Education Committee’s report on the recruitment and retention of
teachers, Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association
of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:
“While we welcome the Government’s recognition of the importance
of teacher retention, workload and continuing professional
development, it’s defensiveness around the scale of the teacher
shortage problem continues, showing a failure to engage with one
of the biggest issues that schools are currently facing. The
Government ignores that less than half of our teachers have over
ten years’ teaching experience and the trend of teachers leaving
the profession for reasons other than retirement are growing.
“The Government’s ostrich-like denial of teachers’ salaries
facing real-term cuts ignores the evidence that years of pay
restraint has led to teachers’ pay falling increasingly behind
that of other professionals, while the newest
postgraduate-qualified teachers also have to struggle with huge
student debts. The Government’s assertion that teachers’ pay
remains competitive fails to heed the evidence that this just
isn’t the case, and the reality that many teachers are struggling
financially.
“The Government’s work around teachers’ workload is a start, but
until it accepts that its policies have made the situation worse,
progress in reducing the current high workload levels will be
frustratingly slow.
“There are some good points in the Government’s response, such as
increasing options for flexible working. We know that many
teachers go part-time to reduce their workload, often in reality
working a full week while being paid for far less, but getting
their evenings and weekends back.”
