Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention on the provision of (i) English, (ii) maths and (iii) functional skills in further education settings.

The department is investing an additional £185 million in the 2023/24 financial year and £285 million in the 2024/25 financial year to drive forward skills delivery in the further education (FE) sector. This funding will help colleges and other providers to address key priorities, including tackling recruitment and retention issues in high-value technical, vocational, and academic provision which are of critical importance to our economic growth and prosperity.

The department is also delivering a programme to support the sector to recruit excellent staff, which includes a national recruitment campaign, and strengthening and incentivising the uptake of initial teacher education (teacher training bursaries in priority subjects worth up to £29,000 each, tax free for 2023/24).

The department’s Taking Teaching Further programme has supported around 1,000 industry professionals to train as FE teachers since 2018. The latest round of Taking Teaching Further is live, supporting FE providers to recruit and support those with relevant knowledge and industry experience to retrain as FE teachers. Taking Teaching Further covers the cost of a teaching qualification, as well as providing a reduced teaching timetable and mentoring support for new recruits.

To boost recruitment and retention of teachers, the department will give early career teachers in key science, technology, engineering, mathematics and technical shortage subjects, working in disadvantaged schools and colleges, up to £6,000 after tax annually on top of their pay. This will double the existing Levelling Up Premium paid to school teachers, and extend it to all FE colleges for the first time.

The department remains committed to supporting FE teachers and the vital work they do in improving achievement in English and mathematics. The department will continue investing in continuing professional development and research in 2023 and beyond, including supporting practitioners to test successful and transferable approaches to improving post-16 level 2 English and mathematics outcomes. The Essential Skills workforce grant is delivering professional development to enhance English and mathematics teaching in FE, supporting our policies and reforms. The department is investing up to £10 million to support teachers of English and mathematics re-sit learners. It will include training in mastery pedagogy for FE mathematics teachers.