Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to develop a long-term policy to assist colleges in recruiting maths and English teachers.

The FE Workforce Strategy published in 2014 sets out the steps government is taking to increase the number of Maths and English teachers in further education colleges. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-workforce-strategy)

The government is committed to supporting the development of the teaching workforce in FE and has invested over £30m since 2013 to fund a range of programmes and incentives to improve the quality of leadership, teaching and support staff in the sector – with a priority on English and Maths.

Since 2013, bursaries of up to £25,000 have been available to attract new graduates with relevant degrees to teach Maths and English, and to specialise in teaching students with SEN within the FE sector. These bursaries match those offered to trainee secondary teachers. To date, over 1,000 bursaries have been provided to graduates entering teaching in the FE sector.

The government also runs other schemes specifically focused on recruiting additional Maths teachers to teach in further education settings such as the Maths Graduate Recruitment Incentive.

Sixth form colleges benefit from English and Maths teacher recruitment and the development opportunities provided by the National College of Teaching and Leadership.