Commenting on the progress of the Early Career Framework
announced by the Department for Education, Dr Mary
Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the
National Education Union, said:
“We are pleased that the Education Secretary is taking seriously
the recruitment and retention crisis in teaching. One need only
look at this week’s Teacher Workforce statistics from his own
department, to see that teachers are leaving at an alarming rate:
40% of these are aged under 35, a 10% rise since 2011. Just as
concerning is that almost a third of teachers (32.3%) leave
within five years of qualifying – a record high.
“The status quo is clearly not working, and the reasons behind
this exodus are self-evident. There is too much excessive and
unnecessary workload, pay is diminishing in real terms, and a
punitive and unreliable accountability system overshadows
everything.
“The recruitment and retention crisis will certainly not
disappear overnight, but what this new initiative could represent
is a space where the optimism and enthusiasm of new teachers
isn’t so quickly extinguished.
“It is right that the Early Career Framework is piloted and
properly evaluated. The devil is always in the detail, however.
As we have always said it must be properly funded, otherwise it
will not work. Reduced timetables will give breathing space for
development, but we question the likely availability of
‘mentoring’ in a culture where heavy workload and long hours are
the norm.
“This is a step in the right direction. We will keep a close eye
on the development of this Framework, as well as future teacher
censuses, to monitor whether this truly improves the lives of new
teachers. But the teaching profession cannot wait for the next
raft of statistics, and would do well to consider the
more immediate changes he can make right now to alleviate the
needless burdens placed on all teachers.”
