Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the number of former teachers that will return to the profession to help tackle problems with capacity as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Former teachers returning to teaching make a significant contribution to teacher supply - in 2018 there were approximately 16,400 full-time equivalent former teachers who returned to the profession in state funded schools after a break. Furthermore, since 2011 there has been an 11% increase in the number of former teachers returning to the profession. This data is publicly available in the ‘School workforce in England: November 2018’ publication, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2018.

In light of COVID-19, our efforts to encourage former teachers back to the profession are prioritising initiatives that can be implemented quickly to capitalise on any potential increased interest in the profession from former teachers.

We are using our current programme for former teachers, such as the Return to Teaching Adviser Service (RTTA), to support these efforts. The RTTA service provides one-to-one support to former teachers interested in returning to teach maths, physics and modern foreign languages. The RTTA service assists these former teachers with their applications, helps them prepare for interviews, and signposts them to the further support such as the provision of Teacher Subject Specialism Training.

We are exploring what more can be done to encourage former teachers back to the profession in the current climate.