Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to accelerate the Teach First programme so that all teachers are recruited by that method by 2020.

Teach First is a charity part-funded by the Government to raise levels of pupil attainment in schools facing challenging circumstances. Teach First’s mission is to recruit high-performing graduates into schools with significant levels of economic deprivation and low levels of educational performance.

The Government has allocated 2,000 training places to Teach First for 2015/16, a 33% increase on its allocation for 2014/15. This reflects the importance the Government places on Teach First’s contribution, and will ensure that Teach First operates in all regions of the country, including in rural and coastal areas. It would not, however, be consistent with Teach First’s mission or scale of operation for it to train all of the approximately 36,000 trainees, including at undergraduate level, required annually to meet the needs of schools of all types in all parts of the country.