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 science teachers in Peterborough constituency.

​​​​​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 this government must do more to ensure the country 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.

​Data on subjects taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce it in the format required. This is weighted to produce national estimates, but accurate breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are, unfortunately, not available. Nevertheless, we are working to ensure that we have sufficient teachers across the country, particularly in shortage national subjects.

The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession. As part of this, it is important that teachers get the pay they deserve, which is why this government has accepted the School Teachers Review Body recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. 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 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. 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.

​The department knows there is further to go to get more teachers into science, which is why, alongside teacher pay, it is making around £200 million available for bursaries and scholarships annually, with physics and chemistry trainees eligible in the 2023/2024 academic year 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 can also receive a Targeted Retention Incentive if working in disadvantaged schools in the first five years of their careers. 14 schools in Peterborough are eligible for payments to teachers of up to £6,000 after-tax.

​Alongside fairer pay and financial incentives, the department is also committed to supporting teachers with workload and wellbeing, including further support for flexible working. Teachers are now allowed to undertake planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time remotely. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts. The named flexible working ambassador for schools in Peterborough is Thomas Gainsborough School.

​The department has also made available 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 government 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.

​High quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department’s Teaching School Hubs play a significant role in delivering Initial Teacher Training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough and South Cambridgeshire.