A Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Question has today revealed that
the Department for Education spent just £3882 on the campaign to
bring retired and ex-teachers back to the profession to fill
Covid-related absences.
It comes as just 485 ex-teachers have been
recruited by the Education Secretary's failed recruitment drive,
while official data from the Department for Education yesterday
reported 44,000 teachers and school leaders have been absent from
schools across the country.
In a Government press
release, claimed the campaign was part
of [doing] “everything in my power to protect education”, yet
spent less than two months average salary for a teacher on the
entire campaign.
Teacher absences across the country are now reaching crisis point
with Zahawi planning for
shortages of 25%. Last weekend on the BBC Sunday Morning show
the Education Secretary said the campaign statistics will not yet
be released but the scheme attracted hundreds of teachers.
Liberal Democrats have said that tens of thousands of ex-teachers
may be needed to fill the gaps of disruption caused by the
Omicron variant, adding the failed recruitment drive was
"lifeless" and "too little, too late."
Liberal Democrats Spokesperson for Education, , said:
“Time and again, the Conservative Government has proven that
children are just an afterthought to them. This lifeless
recruitment campaign is once again too little, too late. The
Education Secretary is standing idly by as schools are facing a
tidal wave of teacher absences. His failure to prepare has led to
a car crash as Covid mixes with the return to
school.
“Teacher absences across the country are skyrocketing, yet
creating an army of reserves for teachers should have been done
18 months ago before schools reopened. To see such a small amount
of money spent on getting ex-teachers back into the classroom, at
a time of crisis, just proves the Education Secretary's heart’s
not in it.
“If the Conservatives want to get a grip on this situation before
it gets even worse, they need to show they are pulling out all
the stops to fill these teacher absences and keep our children in
school.”
ENDS
Note to Editors:
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Information from
Parliamentary Question returned Monday 10 Jan
