School teacher shortages worsening, say Education Committee
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The shortage of teachers is a major challenge for the education
sector in England, particularly in certain regions and subjects
such as computing, physics and maths, say the House of Commons
Education Committee in a report published today. The
Committee finds the Government lacks a long-term plan to address
teacher shortages and consistently fails to meet teacher
recruitment targets. Rising pupil numbers and recent changes to
school accountability, such as the focus on English...Request free trial
The shortage of teachers is a major challenge for the education
sector in England, particularly in certain regions and subjects
such as computing, physics and maths, say the House of Commons
Education Committee in a report published today. The
Committee finds the Government lacks a long-term plan to address
teacher shortages and consistently fails to meet teacher
recruitment targets. Rising pupil numbers and recent changes to
school accountability, such as the focus on English Baccalaureate
(Ebacc) subjects are likely to make the situation worse, say the
Committee.
The Committee urges the Government to place greater emphasis on retaining teachers and not just focus on the necessary task of recruiting new teachers. The Committee finds that a focus on retention could not only be more cost effective but also strengthen the pool of future leadership candidates by encouraging more teachers to stay in the profession. The Committee’s report covers a range of issues relating to teacher recruitment and retention, highlighting concerns over teacher workload, the status of teachers, shortcomings in the Department for Education’s teacher supply data, and the ability of teachers to access training for their continuing professional development (CPD). Neil Carmichael, MP, Chair of the Education Committee, said: “The quality of education our children receive fundamentally relies on the quality of teachers in our schools. Schools are facing significant teacher shortages as a result of the Government consistently failing to meet recruitment targets. The Government must now put in place a long-term plan to tackle the problems of recruiting and retaining teachers and address issues, such as teacher workload and access to professional development, which can drive teachers away from the classroom and into alternative careers. “The Government needs to do more to encourage teachers to stay in the profession by raising the status of teachers, improving the opportunities for good quality training, and by doing all it can to help reduce teacher workload. Holding fire on major policy changes and allowing a longer lead-in for Government initiatives would allow schools time to focus on subject-specific professional development rather than being distracted by the demands of the latest Whitehall directive”. The report recognises that unmanageable workloads are a key factor in teachers considering leaving the profession. The Committee calls on the Government and school leaders to do more to implement the recommendations of the Workload Challenge and to consider options such as ‘capping’ the number of hours teachers work outside of teaching time. Ofsted should also provide greater clarity of its requirements to schools, monitor teacher workload in its school inspections, and publish details of how consistency between inspectors is evaluated. In order to raise the status of the teaching profession, and improve retention, the Committee believes teachers must be entitled to high-quality, relevant continuing professional development (CPD) throughout their careers. The Committee is clear that responsibility for improving CPD is shared between the Government, Ofsted, schools and teachers. The report recommends that training must include a focus on subject-specific knowledge and skills to allow teachers to continually develop their practice and to create future leaders. The Government should consider targeted funding and a central statement of annual entitlement for continuing professional development. The College of Teaching needs to play an important role in this and teachers should use the opportunity of this new body to be fully involved in the development of high-quality CPD opportunities. ENDS Editor’s Notes The report will be available on the Parliament website at 00.01 on Tuesday 21 February: [HTML] https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmeduc/199/19902.htm [PDF] https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmeduc/199/199.pdf 1. A full list of report conclusions and recommendations is available on p.25 of the Committee’s report. 2. Chapter 2 looks at issues around ITT, subject shortages, regional variations, and external factors such as rising pupil numbers, the introduction of the EBacc, and the fact that England has a very young teacher workforce when compared internationally – 48% of teachers in secondary schools in England have 10 years experience and that compares with 64% in other countries. 3. Chapter 3 looks at the use of evidence and the teacher supply model as a provider of accurate projections of teacher supply, Chapter 4 looks at teacher retention and reasons for leaving the profession, Chapter 6 covers continuing professional development. 4. Chapter 5 covers the subject of teacher workload.This chapter includes the following: Jack Worth, from NFER, told the Committee [Q180] that "[NFER] did a piece of research looking at the labour force survey, looking at teachers who left their job and took up another job. They were, on average, reducing their hours by 10% to 15%". Teachers in England work longer hours than many other OECD countries. The EPI, found teachers in England work an average of 48.2 hours per week, 19% longer than the average in other countries and third highest overall. 20.4 of these hours are spent teaching, which is the same as the average across OECD countries. Source of research: Education Policy Institute, Teacher workload and professional development in England's secondary schools: insights from TALIS, October 2016, p 7 |