Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Centre for Social Justice’s report entitled Cracks in Our Foundations, published February 2023, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of that report's findings on (a) primary school teachers' views on the impact of support for children with speech, language and communication needs on foundational skills post pandemic, (b) head teachers' use of local NHS or out-of- school speech therapist services for speech and language support in their school and the availability of those services and (c) trends in demand for speech and language needs support post pandemic.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department wants every child to achieve well in their early years, at school and in further education, and ensuring that speech and language needs are identified early is crucial to enable the right support to be put in place. Schools are required to have arrangements in place to identify speech and language needs early. These arrangements should involve collaborative working between school staff, family and the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).
The department recognises that equipping the sector to deliver reform for children and young people is a long-term challenge, and we know that the impact of the cost of living, compounded by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, will make this even more complex.
The government’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan committed to introducing a new SENCO National Professional Qualification, which will ensure SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training. The government is investing up to £180 million of recovery support in the early years sector to upskill early years practitioners in undertaking the Early Years Foundation Stage two-year-old progress check, including funding for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention.
We are also taking a number of cross-government measures to address the impact of the pandemic on access to specialist services.
To support the supply of more speech and language therapists and occupational therapists to the NHS, since September 2020 all eligible undergraduate and postgraduate degree students have been able to apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation, and travel costs. In partnership with NHS England, we are also funding Early Language and Support for Every Child pathfinders, which will trial new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years and primary schools.
In our SEND and AP Improvement Plan the department has also committed to working with the Department of Health and Social Care to take a joint approach to SEND workforce planning, informed by a stronger evidence base. We will establish a steering group in 2023 to oversee this work. We have also committed to producing a suite of SEND and AP practice guides to equip frontline professionals to make best use of provision and identify needs early, accurately and consistently. Speech and language development is one of the areas we will prioritise.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of progression of learning in Physical Education across all key stages from primary to secondary school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Physical Education curriculum in supporting children to lead healthy active lives.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Primary Education and Sport Premium.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to outsource teaching within delivery of the Physical Education curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take steps to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of STEM teachers; and whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of existing schemes at attracting and retaining staff.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s recruitment and retention reforms aim to ensure effective teacher supply across all subjects. The Department recognises that recruitment and retention in some subjects, including STEM subjects, remains more challenging and the Department has put in place additional targeted initiatives.
In October 2022, the Department announced an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting ITT in 2023/24, which is a £52 million increase on 2022/23. The package includes bursaries worth £27,000 tax free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax free to encourage talented trainees to teach in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. More information on the financial incentives package can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt-academic-year-2023-to-2024. For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department has also extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics.
There is strong evidence that increasing bursaries increases ITT recruitment. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) have recently published independent research which corroborates the Department’s analysis which finds that a £1,000 increase in bursary value results in approximately a 3% increase in applicants on average, all other things being equal. The NFER research can be found here: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4957/assessing_the_impact_of_pay_and_financial_incentives_in_improving_shortage_of_subject_teacher_supply.pdf.
The Department also pays a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers, who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. More information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.
In spring 2022, the Department launched ‘Engineers teach physics’ (ETP), an ITT course which was piloted as a step to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher. Following the pilot year, the Department has now rolled ETP out nationally, with 18 providers currently offering this course.
The Department reviews the existing schemes on offer each year and considers the introduction of specific targeted initiatives where there is evidence that they could contribute to the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers.
To support retention across all subjects, the Department has published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing. This includes the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which the Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. The Charter can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. The Department will be reviewing progress made against the Charter later this year.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to address (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers with expertise in Physical Education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Over 465,500 (FTE) teachers work in state-funded schools across the country, which is over 24,000 more than in 2010.
As of November 2021, there were 23,708 teachers of physical education (PE) in state-funded secondary schools in England. Recruitment to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) has been high for PE and has consistently exceeded its target. The Initial Teacher Training Census shows that in 2022/23, PE was at 143% of its target. In 2021/22, it was at 163% of its target. These figures can be found online at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-census/2022-23.
One of the Department’s priorities is to continue to attract, retain and develop the highly skilled teachers needed to inspire the next generation. The Department’s reforms will support teacher recruitment and retention across all subjects, including PE.
The Department is transforming the process of becoming a teacher In October 2021, the Department rolled out its new digital service, ‘Apply for teacher training’. This was a key milestone in the delivery of a more streamlined, user friendly application route. The Department’s marketing campaign provides inspiration and support to explore a career in teaching and directs people to the ‘Get Into Teaching’ service.
The Department remains committed to delivering starting salaries of £30,000 to attract and retain the very best teachers. The Department has implemented the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a significant 8.9% pay uplift to teacher starting salaries outside London in the academic year 2022/23, bringing them up to £28,000, and a 5% pay rise for experienced teachers. This is the highest pay award in 30 years.
The Department has created an entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support and professional development for all new teachers, including those of PE. Underpinning this is the new ITT Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework. Together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence based training, across ITT and into their induction.
Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality, and the Department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to take into consideration the historic under-recruitment of subject-specialist teachers in the future allocation of teacher training bursaries.
Answered by Nick Gibb
When deciding the bursaries for Initial Teacher Training (ITT), the Department takes a number of factors into account including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions and teacher supply need in each subject.
The unprecedented increase in new entrants to ITT seen in 2020/21 has declined over the past two years. The graduate labour market became more competitive and pay has risen in competing sectors.
To respond to this challenge, the Department announced an ITT financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for 2023/24, which is a £52 million increase on the previous year. This includes bursaries worth £27,000 tax free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax free, to encourage talented trainees to teach in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of teaching were delivered by supply teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Enfield North constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested on the hours of teaching delivered by supply teachers is not held by the Department.
Information on the state funded school workforce in England, including the hours spent teaching subjects in a typical week in secondary schools, is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November, and published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. Information on subjects taught is only collected from a sample of secondary schools and the data does not identify whether the teacher was a supply teacher. Information on the hours spent teaching subjects is not collected from primary schools.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) recruit and (b) retain special educational needs and disabilities specialist staff in schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
All teachers are teachers of Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils can reach their potential and receive excellent support from their teachers.
The number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 full-time equivalent teachers working in state-funded schools across the country. This is over 24,000 more than in 2010.
The department’s priority is to ensure that we continue to attract, retain, and develop highly skilled teachers. This is why we are taking action to improve teacher supply and quality by transforming the training and support we provide for teachers to attract more people to teaching and enable them to succeed.
The Teachers’ Standards sets clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils. All trainees who achieve Qualified Teacher Status must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.
To support all teachers in meeting these standards, the department is implementing a golden thread of high-quality teacher training reforms, which begins with initial teacher training and continues throughout their career progression.
Once teachers qualify and are employed in schools, headteachers use their professional judgement to identify any further training, including specific specialisms, for individual staff that is relevant to them, the school, and its pupils.
To teach a class of pupils with sensory impairments, a teacher is required to hold the mandatory qualification in sensory impairment approved by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. The department has developed a new approval process to determine providers of Mandatory Qualifications in Sensory Impairments from the start of the 2023/24 academic year. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairments, in both specialist and mainstream settings.
The school teachers’ pay and conditions document for 2022 sets out that an additional SEND allowance must be paid to teachers in a SEND post that requires a mandatory SEND qualification and involves teaching pupils with SEND. It is for schools to determine the specific amount, but this must be between £2,384 and £4,703 per annum.