Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their response to the calculation, published by the National Education Union, on 9 November 2023, that there is a shortfall of almost 4000 qualified teachers of modern foreign languages, based on the Department for Education's School Workforce Census of subject specialist teachers with a post A-level qualification in their English Baccalaureate subject.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education and there are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. Nevertheless, the department knows that there is further to go to get more teachers into certain subjects, including modern foreign languages. This is why the department will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers and focus its support on subjects where it is needed most. The department will support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues.
The department already has in place a range of measures specifically for modern foreign languages. This includes bursaries of £25,000 and scholarships of £27,000 for French, Spanish and German. The total initial teacher training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.
The department reviews bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes account of several factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. The department will continue to review the way bursaries are allocated to ensure it is supporting teacher sufficiency and spending money where it is needed most.
As well as working to recruit the best languages graduates domestically, the department is supporting recruitment of skilled graduates from overseas. The department’s ITT bursaries and scholarships are available to all non-UK trainees in languages. This means that for the 2024/25 academic year, international language trainees are eligible for bursaries worth £25,000 and scholarships worth £27,000. An international relocation payment is also available for non-UK teachers of languages starting in the 2024/25 academic year and is worth up to £10,000.
The department is also committed to tackling retention and has made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department’s ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, includes a workload reduction toolkit to support schools to identify opportunities to cut excessive workload. It also includes the education staff wellbeing charter, which sets out commitments from the government, Ofsted, schools, and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff so that teachers not only remain in the profession, but thrive in it.
Aug. 06 2024
Source Page: School Teachers' Review Body. Thirty-fourth report - 2024. 98p [Larger print version 184p]Found: They are also high er in Modern Foreign Languages19. 17 National Foundation for Educational Research
Aug. 06 2024
Source Page: School Teachers' Review Body. Thirty-fourth report - 2024. 98p [Larger print version 184p]Found: They are also higher in Modern Foreign Languages19. 2.40.
Aug. 05 2024
Source Page: National Heritage Memorial Fund annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024Found: Library where it will be available for research and study by future generations. ”Dr William FrameHead of Modern
Aug. 02 2024
Source Page: Section 62A Planning Application: S62A/2024/0056 1 Repton Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 3LSFound: in a different format, for example Braille, audio tape, large print or computer disc, or community languages
Mentions:
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2: Andrew Pakes (LAB - Peterborough) We are also home to a rich diversity of communities, languages and traditions, from the Italians who - Speech Link
Jul. 30 2024
Source Page: Maternal and child nutritionFound: fathers and/or grandparents) 33 emphasised the importance of offering infographic s in different languages
Jul. 30 2024
Source Page: Maternal and child nutritionFound: either Urdu, Hindi or Punjabi were included as the researcher could speak and understand all three languages
Jul. 29 2024
Source Page: School Teachers’ Review Body 34th Report: 2024Found: 15 2 3 1 2 3 3 2 Secondary, Assistant Head, East of England 4M 14 1 2 1 2 2 2 3 Secondary, Head of Modern
Jul. 29 2024
Source Page: School Teachers’ Review Body 34th Report: 2024Found: They are also high er in Modern Foreign Languages19. 17 National Foundation for Educational Research