Shadow Education Secretary has today announced plans
for a Labour government to save cash strapped schools over half a
billion pounds a year through a major shake-up of the supply
teacher system.
At the Conference in Liverpool, the
Shadow Education Secretary outlined plans to introduce a new
national Substitute Teacher Register to end the spiralling cost
to schools of hiring supply teachers, which cost £556 million on
recruitment agency fees alone in 2015/16, an average of over
£25,000 for every school in England.
The national Substitute Teacher Register would be similar to a
system already used in Northern Ireland, which allows schools to
book the teachers they need at short notice from a government
held register of accredited teachers in the local area.
This simple system alleviates the need for schools to pay
expensive agency fees to find suitable teachers, allowing those
savings to be used on teachers, resources and essentials that
many schools are struggling to afford.
As well as developing the national Substitute Teacher Register,
Labour has also announced plans to examine the feasibility of
setting up a state supply agency to compete within the market,
and following calls from the National Association of Head
Teachers, also whether further regulation of supply teacher fees
is needed to stop the exorbitant and escalating costs seen in the
industry in recent years.
The cost of agency fees for supply teachers has grown
dramatically in recent years, with total costs rising around 20%
in the past five years. These increasing costs have
compounded the problems many schools are facing to get the staff
that they need under this government. The teacher recruitment
target has been missed in five consecutive years, teacher
training applications are down by a third in the last year, and
teachers are now leaving the profession in record numbers, faster
than new teachers join the profession. This leads to schools
being increasingly reliant on supply agencies to get the staff
they need week to week, with the government doing little to
tackle the problem.
MP, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, said:
“At a time when our schools have to ask parents to give extra
money for books and classroom essentials, it’s crazy we’re
spending half a billion pounds a year just on agency fees.
That money should be spent on teachers and the badly needed
resources our children need to get a world class education, and
under a Labour government it would.
“Our straightforward, simple and proven policy will save hundreds
of millions of pounds a year and help schools find the talented
teachers they need. While the Tories obsess over damaging
and unnecessary changes to the education system, Labour will keep
on producing sensible policies that will save our schools money
and give our kids a better education.”
Ends
Notes to editors
