Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the efficacy of incentives designed to keep experienced teachers in the classroom.

Teacher retention remains high: 90% of those entering the profession are teaching one year later, and 78% are teaching after five years. Reforms to teachers’ pay mean that schools have greater flexibility to attract, retain and reward the very best teachers.

A report by the Sutton Trust in 2011, Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the UK, concluded that a more flexible pay and promotion system would have the potential to attract and retain more high quality applicants to the teaching profession.

We are intending to evaluate pay implementation, including the impact on teachers’ career intentions. This will begin in the autumn.