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 (i) Mid Cheshire constituency, (ii) Cheshire and (iii) England.

​​​​​​High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent 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. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers and retain our excellent school staff.

The first crucial steps towards achieving this are to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and to reset the relationship with the teaching profession. As part of this, it is important that teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why this government is fully funding, as recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body, the 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. Additionally, from 1 September 2024 schools are no longer required to use performance related pay (PRP) as the basis for appraisals and decisions related to pay progression.

This government 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 we have 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.

​Alongside teacher pay, the department is making £200 million available for bursaries and scholarships annually, with shortage subject trainees eligible in 2023/2024 for the highest bursaries of £28,000 and £30,000 for scholarships. The department will shortly be announcing the trainee incentives for the 2025/26 academic year.

To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers can also receive a targeted retention incentive if working in disadvantaged schools. 6 schools in Mid Cheshire are eligible for payments to teachers of up to £6,000 after-tax.

​​The department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, including its ‘improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service and the ‘education staff wellbeing charter’. Additionally, effective use of technology can automate tasks and help manage workload for teachers. For example, high quality AI tools have the potential to reduce the amount of time that teachers spend marking, whilst supporting effective feedback and tailored teaching which drive pupil progress.

​In August 2024, the department announced a £1 million fund to support innovators to develop proof of concept AI tools to support teachers with marking and providing feedback. Oak National Academy has also recently launched a sector-leading AI lesson planning assistant which enables teachers who choose to use it to create personalised and tailored lesson plans and resources in minutes.

​​The department is committed to supporting schools to implement flexible working practices including taking planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time remotely, to improve recruitment and retention of teachers. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts. Schools in Mid Cheshire can access support on flexible working here: https://www.flexibleworkingineducation.co.uk/.

​The department has established teaching school hubs across the country, which provide approved high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. Cheshire Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester.