Teachers: Lancashire

(asked on 20th January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many qualified teachers are employed in schools run by (a) the local education authority, (b) free schools and (c) academies in Lancashire; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of the number of qualified teachers at each of those categories of schools.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 27th January 2020

In Lancashire in 2018, there were 9,2081 full-time equivalent (FTE) qualified teachers employed in state-funded schools. The breakdown of this into local authority maintained, free schools and academies are as follows:

FTE qualified teachers[1]

Local-authority-maintained schools[2]

7,618

Free schools

82

Academies

1,509

It is a top priority of the Government to ensure the whole country has a strong teaching workforce. Last year the Department launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy – the first ever integrated strategy ensuring there are excellent teachers for every child. The strategy includes the biggest teaching reform in a generation, the Early Career Framework (ECF). The ECF provides new teachers with the solid foundations for a successful career in teaching, backed by £130 million a year in funding when fully rolled out in 2021. We have also committed to plans to raise starting salaries for new teachers to £30,000 by 2022-23, putting teaching on a par with other top graduate professions.

Implementation of the national recruitment and retention strategy will support all schools. However, we recognise that some schools and local areas face greater challenges with recruitment and retention than others. We are making every effort to refocus national teacher recruitment and retention programmes to ensure they address local variations in teacher supply, so that more schools can benefit from tried and tested programmes.

This includes targeting interventions to support teacher recruitment and retention in all school types in Lancashire. Over £20 million of scholarships funding has been made available in 2017-19 to support teachers and leaders in Category 5 and 6 areas to take up a National Professional Qualification (NPQ), doubling our initial intended investment. The aim of the investment is to retain good teachers and leaders in these areas and support their professional development. Burnley and Pendle are areas that received this support in Lancashire.

In addition to this, the Department has set aside £30 million in tailored support for schools struggling with teacher recruitment and retention. This support is designed to help schools improve existing recruitment and retention plans, join national programmes, build local partnerships or fund new initiatives. Three schools in Lancashire local authority are currently receiving this support.

[1] Figures have been rounded to whole numbers.

[2] Includes a small number of centrally employed staff.

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