Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote teaching as a career path for young people and current teachers.

Since July 2024, this government has taken targeted action to boost teacher supply. This work started with our reset of the relationship with the sector, to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession, making it one that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join. We have published our delivery plan for 6,500 new expert teachers, focusing delivery across three key themes:

• Attract: We will optimise routes into teaching.
• Retain: We will improve teaching experience and boost retention.
• Develop: We will expand career-long development opportunities.

We are offering recruitment incentives in the subjects where they are needed most, with significant investment in tax-free teacher training bursaries and scholarships of up to £31,000 for school and college teachers.

We have recognised the importance of teachers with a pay rise for school teachers and leaders of nearly 10% since this government took power.

Our approach is already starting to pay-off, with the secondary and special school workforce growing by 2,346 teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25.