Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of the planned new teachers will be allocated to schools in Lincolnshire.

​​High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England, but the government must do more to ensure it has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country, which is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.

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​The department is developing its approach so that it can be clear on its target and held accountable against that target, with a focus on key subjects and in places where it is needed most. The department will share further details in due course.

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​The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why the 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.

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​The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.

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​Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, who are in the first five years of their careers, also receive retention payments if working in disadvantaged schools. In the 2023/24 academic year, 55 schools in the Lincolnshire Local Authority area were eligible for these retention payments.

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​To further help teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is also addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. The Flexible Working Ambassador Multi-Academy Trusts and Schools (FWAMS) Programme offers support to schools across every region in England to help implement flexible working. Schools in Lincolnshire that are interested in receiving tailored peer support can contact the Hales Valley Trust, which is the Flexible Working Ambassador for the East Midlands.

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​The department has also established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. L.E.A.D Teaching School Hub and DRET Teaching School Hub are centres of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Lincolnshire. ​