Education

Debate between Justine Greening and Matt Rodda

Monday 18th December 2017 Ministerial Corrections

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

9. What recent assessment she has made of trends in teacher recruitment and retention.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Justine Greening)]

Teacher numbers are at an all-time high: there are 15,500 more teachers than there were in 2010; postgraduate recruitment is at its highest level since 2012-13; and in 2015-16 we welcomed back 4,200 teachers into the classroom, which is an 8% improvement on the 2011 figure. However, we are absolutely not complacent; we continue to invest in teacher recruitment and are actively addressing the issues that teachers cite as a reason for leaving the profession.

[Official Report, 11 December 2017, Vol. 633, c. 13.]

Letter of correction from Justine Greening:

An error has been indentified in the response that I gave to the hon. Member for Reading East (Matt Rodda) during Questions to the Secretary of State for Education.

The correct response should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Matt Rodda

Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

9. What recent assessment she has made of trends in teacher recruitment and retention.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Justine Greening)]

Teacher numbers are at an all-time high: there are 15,500 more teachers than there were in 2010; postgraduate recruitment is at its highest level since 2012-13; and in 2015-16 we welcomed back 4,200 teachers into the classroom, which is an 8% improvement on the 2011 figure. However, we are absolutely not complacent; we continue to invest in teacher recruitment and are actively addressing the issues that teachers cite as a reason for leaving the profession.[Official Report, 18 December 2017, Vol. 633, c. 3MC.]

[Matt Rodda]

I thank the Secretary of State for her answer, but I draw her attention to the situation in my constituency and the evidence from the School Teachers’ Review Body, which has stated that there is

“a real risk that schools will not be able to recruit and retain a workforce of high quality teachers to support pupil achievement.”

It says that is particularly the case given the predicted increase in pupil numbers. What action have the Government taken to address teacher recruitment and retention? Will she meet me and local heads to discuss this matter?

[Justine Greening]

Retention rates are broadly stable over a 20-year period. In fact, the overall vacancy rate for all teachers is about 0.3%. The hon. Gentleman asks what we are doing on the quality of the people coming into teaching, and I can tell him that the proportion of people entering teaching with a degree or a higher qualification is now 98.5%, which represents a 4.3% increase since 2010. Indeed, 19% of this year’s cohort of trainees have first-class degrees, which is a higher proportion than in any of the past five years.