Posted by: mediaofficer
We want to make sure that teaching is
an attractive career choice, which is why we’re committed to
tackling unnecessary workload for teachers and leaders. Our
ambition is to reduce working hours by five hours per week within
three years and to support this, we’ve launched the Workload
Reduction Taskforce.
The Taskforce will make
recommendations to help teachers focus on activities that provide
the biggest impact on pupil outcomes. It’s launch comes after
a 6.5% pay award
for teachers and leaders for the academic year
2023/24.
Here, we explain everything you need
to know.
What is the Workload Reduction
Taskforce and what will it do?
The Taskforce is made up of education
experts, from those working in our classrooms, to those in
management positions. It includes representatives from all four
teaching unions (NEU, NAHT, NASUWT and ASCL), as well as
teachers, leaders and academics.
Drawing on insight and experience from
across the education sector, the group will develop a series of
recommendations to support the reduction of unnecessary teacher
and leader workload.
Are you also supporting
schools to introduce flexible
working?
School leaders are also receiving
support to introduce flexible working in their
schools.
A new toolkit is set to be launched
later this month with practical resources to help them introduce
practices such as job shares, part-time working and ad-hoc
flexibility, and the occasional personal day.
As part of this, a further five new
Flexible Working Ambassador Multi-Academy Trusts and Schools
(FWAMS) have been announced, on top of the seven announced in
June this year. The FWAMS will champion flexible working and
offer practical advice to school leaders.
What else are you doing to
improve recruitment and retention of
teachers?
Since 2010, we have recruited 27,000
more teachers in England.
Earlier in the year, the government
accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendations for
the 2023/24 teacher pay award. School teachers in England will
receive a pay award of 6.5% – the highest pay award for teachers
in over 30 years. On top of this, we’ve boosted starting salaries
for new teachers to at least £30,000 across the
country.
To make sure we’re attracting the best
and brightest educators, in some key subjects we offer tax free
bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to
£29,000. We provide funding for programmes to boost subject
knowledge, and we are developing a new physics Initial Teacher
Training course for engineers.
We’re also encouraging former teachers
to rejoin the profession through the Return to Teaching Advisory
service – read more about this initiative here.
Since our launch of the Teacher
Recruitment and Retention Strategy nearly five years ago, we’ve
worked to develop access high-quality training and support for
teachers at every stage of their career.
This winter, we will publish a
strategy update that builds upon a commitment to give every child
a world class education delivered by great
teachers. This will set
out priorities for the coming years and provide an update on
progress made so far.
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