Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations of the AQA report entitled Towards new assessments for Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Fluency, published in October 2023.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.
The review will be driven by evidence as it seeks to deliver an excellent foundation in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics, and considers the key knowledge and skills, including digital, needed for future life.
It will also seek to deliver an assessment system that captures the strengths of every child and young person, with the right balance of assessment methods whilst maintaining the important role of examinations.
The review group will publish an interim report in early spring setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final report with recommendations will be published this autumn. The department will take decisions on what changes to make to assessment and qualifications in light of these recommendations.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the total number of special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) in all schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
There were 20,346 special educational needs co-ordinators employed by state-funded schools in England in November 2023, which is the latest data available.
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to implement a staff retention strategy in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.
This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, which is an increase of £37 million from the 2024/25 cycle, to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are four schools in the Twickenham constituency where teachers are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
We want to ensure teaching is an attractive profession to a wide range of people, including parents. This is why the department is enabling schools to offer greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation, and assessment to be undertaken from home, as well as making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. Charles Dickens Primary School is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Twickenham schools.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training and development. Wandle Teaching School Hub supports teacher training and development across Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth.
No notices of reduced or ended funding have been issued regarding teacher recruitment or retention schemes since 30 October 2024.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the retention of teachers when they become parents.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.
This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, which is an increase of £37 million from the 2024/25 cycle, to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are four schools in the Twickenham constituency where teachers are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
We want to ensure teaching is an attractive profession to a wide range of people, including parents. This is why the department is enabling schools to offer greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation, and assessment to be undertaken from home, as well as making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. Charles Dickens Primary School is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Twickenham schools.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training and development. Wandle Teaching School Hub supports teacher training and development across Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth.
No notices of reduced or ended funding have been issued regarding teacher recruitment or retention schemes since 30 October 2024.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention in Twickenham constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.
This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, which is an increase of £37 million from the 2024/25 cycle, to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are four schools in the Twickenham constituency where teachers are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
We want to ensure teaching is an attractive profession to a wide range of people, including parents. This is why the department is enabling schools to offer greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation, and assessment to be undertaken from home, as well as making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. Charles Dickens Primary School is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Twickenham schools.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training and development. Wandle Teaching School Hub supports teacher training and development across Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth.
No notices of reduced or ended funding have been issued regarding teacher recruitment or retention schemes since 30 October 2024.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which teacher recruitment and retention schemes that have received notice that funding will be (a) reduced and (b) ended since 30 October 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.
This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, which is an increase of £37 million from the 2024/25 cycle, to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are four schools in the Twickenham constituency where teachers are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
We want to ensure teaching is an attractive profession to a wide range of people, including parents. This is why the department is enabling schools to offer greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation, and assessment to be undertaken from home, as well as making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. Charles Dickens Primary School is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Twickenham schools.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training and development. Wandle Teaching School Hub supports teacher training and development across Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth.
No notices of reduced or ended funding have been issued regarding teacher recruitment or retention schemes since 30 October 2024.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school music teachers left the teaching profession in the period between (a) 2010 and 2015, (b) 2015 and 2020 and (c) 2020 and 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining more teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child, as the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes.
Information on subjects taught is not collected from primary schools. Since the department does not collect the curriculum data for primary teachers, we cannot identify the primary music teachers to calculate a leaver statistic.
Based on the school workforce census data, the numbers of secondary school music teachers who left the teaching profession during the specified periods are as follows:
Information on the number of teachers leaving service for the 2023/24 academic year will be published in June 2025.
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
This includes the number and rate of teacher vacancies in each school, local authority, region and nationally. Figures for primary and secondary schools for the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years, which is the latest information available, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a3eb31d-c466-4007-0220-08dd45ba797d.
Information on teacher vacancies for the 2024/25 academic year will be published in June 2025.
This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, which is key to ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. That is why we have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees, with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
In addition to recruiting expert teachers, we want existing teachers to stay and thrive in the profession, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are six schools in Mid Cheshire that are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
To further support retention, we have made available workload and wellbeing resources that were developed with school leaders, through our new Improving Workload and Wellbeing online service. We are also continuing to promote the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which currently has nearly 4,000 school and college signatories.
The department is also funding mental health and wellbeing support for school and college leaders. This includes professional supervision and counselling for those who need it. More than 2,000 leaders have benefitted from the support so far. Support continues to be available and can be accessed by visiting Education Support’s website.
The department is also committed to supporting schools to implement flexible working practices including taking planning, preparation and assessment time remotely.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. They play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the early career framework, national professional qualifications and appropriate body services.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the potential impact of the covid pandemic on levels of teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention between 2020 and 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The pandemic period affects figures relating to the data between 2019 and 2021.
In the state school sector, there were 45,381 new entrants in 2019/20 compared to 47,230 in 2018/19. This reduced to 41,796 in 2020/21. The numbers have risen again as reflected in the most recent census, where there were 44,002 new entrants in 2023/24.
Retention increased during the COVID-19 pandemic which we expect is due to changing career plans for individuals. In 2019/20, 41,193 teachers left the profession compared to 43,134 in 2018/19, and this dropped to 32,227 in 2020/21. In the most recent census, 43,522 teachers left the profession, whilst almost 9 in 10 (88.7%) teachers who qualified in 2022 are still teaching one year after qualification, almost three-quarters (74.1%) of teachers who qualified three years ago are still teaching and over two-thirds (67.5%) of teachers who qualified five years ago are still teaching.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teacher vacancies were recorded by primary schools in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022, (e) 2023 and (f) 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining more teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child, as the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes.
Information on subjects taught is not collected from primary schools. Since the department does not collect the curriculum data for primary teachers, we cannot identify the primary music teachers to calculate a leaver statistic.
Based on the school workforce census data, the numbers of secondary school music teachers who left the teaching profession during the specified periods are as follows:
Information on the number of teachers leaving service for the 2023/24 academic year will be published in June 2025.
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
This includes the number and rate of teacher vacancies in each school, local authority, region and nationally. Figures for primary and secondary schools for the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years, which is the latest information available, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a3eb31d-c466-4007-0220-08dd45ba797d.
Information on teacher vacancies for the 2024/25 academic year will be published in June 2025.
This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, which is key to ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. That is why we have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees, with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
In addition to recruiting expert teachers, we want existing teachers to stay and thrive in the profession, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are six schools in Mid Cheshire that are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
To further support retention, we have made available workload and wellbeing resources that were developed with school leaders, through our new Improving Workload and Wellbeing online service. We are also continuing to promote the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which currently has nearly 4,000 school and college signatories.
The department is also funding mental health and wellbeing support for school and college leaders. This includes professional supervision and counselling for those who need it. More than 2,000 leaders have benefitted from the support so far. Support continues to be available and can be accessed by visiting Education Support’s website.
The department is also committed to supporting schools to implement flexible working practices including taking planning, preparation and assessment time remotely.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. They play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the early career framework, national professional qualifications and appropriate body services.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teacher vacancies were recorded by secondary schools in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022, (e) 2023 and (f) 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining more teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child, as the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes.
Information on subjects taught is not collected from primary schools. Since the department does not collect the curriculum data for primary teachers, we cannot identify the primary music teachers to calculate a leaver statistic.
Based on the school workforce census data, the numbers of secondary school music teachers who left the teaching profession during the specified periods are as follows:
Information on the number of teachers leaving service for the 2023/24 academic year will be published in June 2025.
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
This includes the number and rate of teacher vacancies in each school, local authority, region and nationally. Figures for primary and secondary schools for the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years, which is the latest information available, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a3eb31d-c466-4007-0220-08dd45ba797d.
Information on teacher vacancies for the 2024/25 academic year will be published in June 2025.
This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, which is key to ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. That is why we have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees, with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its schoolteacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.
In addition to recruiting expert teachers, we want existing teachers to stay and thrive in the profession, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000 after-tax if working in disadvantaged schools. There are six schools in Mid Cheshire that are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
To further support retention, we have made available workload and wellbeing resources that were developed with school leaders, through our new Improving Workload and Wellbeing online service. We are also continuing to promote the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which currently has nearly 4,000 school and college signatories.
The department is also funding mental health and wellbeing support for school and college leaders. This includes professional supervision and counselling for those who need it. More than 2,000 leaders have benefitted from the support so far. Support continues to be available and can be accessed by visiting Education Support’s website.
The department is also committed to supporting schools to implement flexible working practices including taking planning, preparation and assessment time remotely.
The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. They play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the early career framework, national professional qualifications and appropriate body services.