Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the recruitment of male primary school teachers.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education with teachers helping shape the lives of young people.

There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but the government must do more to ensure we have the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.

​The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession. As part of this, it is important that teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why this government has accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September.

The department is committed to making teaching and teacher recruitment as inclusive as possible. This includes the Get Into Teaching marketing campaign, which provides inspiration and support to explore a career in teaching and directs people to the Get Into Teaching Service, which exists to make teaching a career of choice and support candidates to apply for teacher training in the most effective and efficient way possible.

The service supports the department's overall aim to improve teacher sufficiency and quality by boosting teacher recruitment and retention. The department’s Apply for Teacher Training digital service gives it more data and greater insight into the behaviour of male candidates and schools and universities that offer initial teacher training. This is helping the department identify and address barriers for different groups, including men.

The department offers a range of training pathways into teaching that appeals to the widest range of candidates. These include routes funded through student finance and, in some subjects, bursaries or employment-based training where trainees will earn a salary while they train, including teaching apprenticeships.