Commenting on a new interactive
dashboard created by the National Foundation for Educational
Research (NFER) which identifies teacher supply challenges in
primary and secondary schools,
Kevin Courtney, Joint General
Secretary of the National Education
Union,
said:
“Too few graduates are choosing to
train to be a teacher and too many teachers are choosing to leave
the profession. This has created serious staffing gaps for
schools right now, but it will also undermine the quality of
education for the next generation.
“This important website shows that
schools with higher levels of deprivation have greater difficulty
retaining their teachers and that teachers working in schools
with higher levels of deprivation are more likely to leave the
profession.
“The Government must address the
recruitment and retention crisis in teaching. This requires them
to give teachers a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise. It’s
vital too that Government makes teaching more appealing, and this
includes tackling excessive workload and giving much more support
to schools in deprived areas. Schools with higher levels of
deprivation are much more likely to be given a low
Ofsted rating and this is driving teachers away from those
schools and from the profession generally. Schools with higher
levels of deprivation among their pupils need understanding about
their context; instead, the Government has cut their funding
the most.”
