Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of secondary schools teachers retiring early.

There are now over 468,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest FTE of teachers since the school workforce census began in 2010.

The department is taking action to support teachers to stay in the profession and thrive. The department accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders, meaning teachers and leaders in maintained schools will receive a pay award of 6.5%. This is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years.

The department has also launched a new and updated suite of national professional qualifications for teachers and school leaders at all levels to help teachers to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so that every child, in every classroom, and in every school gets the best start in life.

Staff wellbeing is crucial to the department’s commitment to recruit and retain more teachers and support teacher quality. The department has made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing including launching the education staff wellbeing charter, which the department are encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. Further information on the charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.

The department has also convened a workload reduction taskforce to explore how the department can go further to support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers and leaders.

The department are also looking at how flexible working opportunities can be expanded and promoted in schools to help recruit, retain and motivate teachers and leaders. The department has worked with school leaders and other sector experts to publish non-statutory guidance, case studies, and a flexible working toolkit. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.

These measures are aimed not only at helping more teachers to remain in the classroom, but for them to thrive in their careers.