NASUWT comments on NAO teaching workforce report

Commenting on the National Audit Office’s report Retaining and Developing the Teaching Workforce, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said:   

“The National Audit Office is just the latest body to warn of the deep teacher recruitment and retention crisis which this Government has created and to highlight the lack of effective action by ministers to address it. 

“In order to recruit sufficient numbers of high-quality teachers and retain existing professionals in the classroom, the Department for Education should be focusing its efforts on driving down excessive teacher workload and reforming the high-stakes accountability system which drives much of the necessary bureaucracy which teachers are facing.

“The Government must also heed the growing pressure its public sector pay cap is having on recruitment and retention and act urgently to remove the unacceptable pay cap and restore salaries to levels which are competitive with other graduate professions and which reflect the high level of knowledge and skill which teaching demands.”