Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in Wellingborough constituency.

The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record. There are now over 468,000 full time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000, or 6%, since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

Last year, the department accepted in full the School Teacher Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years. This means that over two years, teacher pay is increasing by more than 12% on average and means the department has delivered its manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country.

The department has put in place a range of measures, including increased bursaries worth up to £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

The department is also offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after-tax for eligible mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their career who work in disadvantaged schools. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium. Six schools in Wellingborough are eligible for payments of up to £5,000 after-tax under this scheme.

The department has also established three Teaching School Hubs near Wellingborough: the Northamptonshire Teaching School Hub, the Chiltern Teaching School Hub and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub. More information can be found at the following web addresses: https://www.northamptonshireteachingschoolhub.org/, https://www.teaching-school.co.uk/, and https://www.cptshn.co.uk/. More information can be found at the following web addresses: https://www.northamptonshireteachingschoolhub.org/, https://www.teaching-school.co.uk/,

These school-based centres of excellence deliver Initial Teacher Training (ITT), the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and provide Appropriate Body services for the induction of early career teachers. More information on the induction of early career teachers can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/induction-for-early-career-teachers-england . Together, these ensure that new teachers in Wellingborough will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across ITT and into their induction.

The department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices.

On flexible working in particular, the department has established a series of Flexible Working Ambassador Multi-Academy Trusts and Schools (FWAMSs) throughout the country which support school leaders to implement and embed flexible working in their schools. Wellingborough’s named FWAMS is Lapal School of Hales Valley Trust. Further information can be found on the ‘Flexible Working in Education’ website, here: https://www.flexibleworkingineducation.co.uk/about-fwams.