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Written Question
Teachers: Training
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to (a) ensure that teacher training is using a trauma-informed approach to educating new teachers and (b) assess the adequacy of the delivery of that approach.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The mandatory initial teacher training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) (2019) sets out the minimum entitlement of knowledge, skills and experiences that all trainees need to enter the profession in the best position possible to teach and support their pupils. This core content must be covered in full for all ITT courses that lead to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). A link to the framework can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974307/ITT_core_content_framework_.pdf.

It is for accredited ITT providers to incorporate the CCF into curriculum that are appropriate to the needs of trainees, and to adapt them for the subject, phase and age range that the trainees will be teaching.

ITT courses must be designed so that, by the end of the course, teacher trainees can demonstrate that they meet all the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes Teachers’ Standard 5, which requires teachers to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils and to have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit pupil’s ability to learn, and how best to overcome these.

Following the award of QTS, all early career teachers are entitled to a two year induction underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF). In 2023, the department undertook a review of the CCF and ECF, and in January 2024, the new ITTECF was published. From September 2025, this new framework combines and replaces the CCF and ECF into one framework, which sets out the training entitlement during ITT and the two year induction. The department worked closely with the Education Endowment Foundation to ensure the ITTECF is framed around the best available evidence of what defines great teaching. Trauma informed practice is an emerging field of research and the evidence base is still developing.

The quality of ITT provision is assessed through Ofsted’s routine inspections of accredited ITT providers. Ofsted provide critical and independent quality assurance of all ITT provision that leads to QTS.


Written Question
Health Professions and Teachers: Training
Wednesday 6th March 2024

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 work with universities to help train (a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) teachers.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department is working closely with Higher Education Providers (HEP’s) to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to access a world class education. This remains a top priority and is fundamental to the government’s ambition to level-up skills, growth, and economic opportunity across the country.

Record numbers of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff will be trained in England as part of the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), which was published in June 2023. By significantly expanding domestic education, training and recruitment, we will have more healthcare professionals working in the NHS. The LTWP will:

  • Double the number of medical school places to 15,000 a year by 2031/32. To support this ambition, the government will increase the number of medical school places by a third, to 10,000 by 2028/29. This will build on the expansion of medical school places in England to 7,500 per year, a 25% increase, which the government completed in 2020 and that delivered five new medical schools. The government has accelerated the LTWP expansion by allocating 205 additional medical school places for 2024/25, a year ahead of target. The process for allocating 350 additional places for the 2025/26 academic year is underway and further details will be confirmed in due course.
  • Record numbers of nurses are now working in the NHS, and the Plan will increase adult nursing training places by 92%, taking the number of total places up to nearly 38,000 by 2031/32. To support this ambition, the government will increase training places to nearly 28,000 in 2028/29. This forms part of the ambition to increase the number of nursing and midwifery training places to around 58,000 by 2031/32. The government will work towards achieving this by increasing places to over 44,000 by 2028/29, with 20% of registered nurses qualifying through apprenticeship routes compared to just 9% now. The number of nursing applicants still continues to outstrip the places on offer. Nursing and midwifery training places are competitive, and lead to an attractive and important career in the NHS.
  • Introduce medical degree apprenticeships, with pilots running from 2024/25 so that by 2031/32, 2,000 medical students will train via this route. The department will work towards this ambition by growing medical degree apprenticeships to more than 850 by 2028/29

The government is backing the LTWP with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record £6.1 billion over the next two years. The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the Office for Students, as well as the General Medical Council to actualise the delivery of the plan.

The department will continue to work with the sector so everyone who wants to pursue a rewarding healthcare career has the support and opportunities to do so.

There are record numbers of teachers in England’s schools, with more than 468,000 working in state-funded schools across the country, which is 27,000 (6%) more than in 2010. The department works closely with schools and universities to recruit the best teachers, in the subjects and areas they are needed most. The department has already put in place a range of measures for trainees in the 2023/24 academic, including bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to apply to train in key subjects such as chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics.

The department is also offering a levelling up premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department is doubling the rates of the levelling up premium to up to £6,000 after tax. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

The department is also working with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and an employer-led trailblazer group to develop the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship (TDA). The TDA will be a new route into the teaching profession, for both primary and secondary teachers, through which successful candidates will ‘earn while they learn’ and attain an undergraduate degree and qualified teacher status while working in a school.  Subject to IfATE approvals, the TDA standard will be published in spring 2024, with the candidate recruitment commencing from autumn 2024 and training commencing in autumn 2025.


Written Question
Mathematics and Science: Teachers
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the gender divide amongst science and maths teachers in order to provide more positive role models for girls in the classroom.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax annually 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. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax. These payments will incentivise the recruitment and retention of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers within the schools where they are needed most.

The department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainee teachers to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. This is alongside delivering a £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country, with a pay award of up to 7.1% for new teachers outside London.

This academic year, physics trainees from overseas are also eligible for bursaries and scholarships, and for a one-off payment of £10,000 as part of the international relocation payment pilot.

To encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher, the department has also launched the ‘Engineers teach physics’ Initial Teacher Training course. Following a pilot in 2022, the department has now rolled this out nationally.

The department is also taking action to support all teachers to stay in the profession and thrive and has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and to support schools to introduce flexible working practices.

On the subject of diverse teacher role models in science and mathematics, there remains a larger proportion of female teachers than male teachers in state-funded schools overall (76%).

The department aims to support the diversity of the workforce through our communications campaigns, workforce programmes that support all teachers to develop across their careers, and policies to support the workforce, such as flexible working. For example, the Get Into Teaching marketing campaign supports diverse recruitment into the profession through inclusive recruitment campaigns and marketing materials, which strive to reflect the diversity of our target audiences who want reassurance that teaching is for people like them. The campaign regularly showcases STEM teachers from diverse backgrounds.

The department supports a range of work to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM education in schools, including funding a Stimulating Physics Network to improve the quality of physics teaching and improve progression to A level physics, particularly for girls.

More widely, the government supports girls and pupils from other underrepresented groups into STEM education through programmes such as the CyberFirst Girls competition which aims to promote cybersecurity careers to girls aged between 12 and 14.

The government also funds the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of over 30,000 registered volunteers representing thousands of employers, who engage with young people to increase their interest in STEM subjects and to raise awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications offer. Approximately 48% of Ambassadors are women and 17% are from minority ethnic backgrounds, providing young people with a variety of role models.


Written Question
Mathematics and Science: Teachers
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) recruit, and (2) retain, more science and maths teachers in schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax annually 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. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax. These payments will incentivise the recruitment and retention of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers within the schools where they are needed most.

The department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainee teachers to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. This is alongside delivering a £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country, with a pay award of up to 7.1% for new teachers outside London.

This academic year, physics trainees from overseas are also eligible for bursaries and scholarships, and for a one-off payment of £10,000 as part of the international relocation payment pilot.

To encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher, the department has also launched the ‘Engineers teach physics’ Initial Teacher Training course. Following a pilot in 2022, the department has now rolled this out nationally.

The department is also taking action to support all teachers to stay in the profession and thrive and has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and to support schools to introduce flexible working practices.

On the subject of diverse teacher role models in science and mathematics, there remains a larger proportion of female teachers than male teachers in state-funded schools overall (76%).

The department aims to support the diversity of the workforce through our communications campaigns, workforce programmes that support all teachers to develop across their careers, and policies to support the workforce, such as flexible working. For example, the Get Into Teaching marketing campaign supports diverse recruitment into the profession through inclusive recruitment campaigns and marketing materials, which strive to reflect the diversity of our target audiences who want reassurance that teaching is for people like them. The campaign regularly showcases STEM teachers from diverse backgrounds.

The department supports a range of work to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM education in schools, including funding a Stimulating Physics Network to improve the quality of physics teaching and improve progression to A level physics, particularly for girls.

More widely, the government supports girls and pupils from other underrepresented groups into STEM education through programmes such as the CyberFirst Girls competition which aims to promote cybersecurity careers to girls aged between 12 and 14.

The government also funds the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of over 30,000 registered volunteers representing thousands of employers, who engage with young people to increase their interest in STEM subjects and to raise awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications offer. Approximately 48% of Ambassadors are women and 17% are from minority ethnic backgrounds, providing young people with a variety of role models.


Written Question
Joshua Sutcliffe
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of their Draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England on Gender Questioning Children, published in December 2023, whether they will ask the Teaching Regulation Authority to reconsider their findings and sanction in the report of 2023 concerning Mr Joshua Sutcliffe.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

It is important that processes relating to teacher misconduct are progressed without any political involvement. Decisions on whether to progress cases are taken independently by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

An independent professional conduct panel is appointed to hear cases and determine whether the evidence proves unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, or a conviction of a relevant offence. If so, the professional conduct panel will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Education about whether to prohibit the individual from teaching.

In the case of Mr Joshua Sutcliffe, after hearing all live evidence and mitigations, the independent appointed panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State decision maker to prohibit him from the teaching profession, with a two-year review period.

Following recommendation, the decision to impose a prohibition order is taken by a senior TRA official.

Although that decision is taken on behalf of the Secretary of State, neither she nor any other Minister in the department can have any involvement in these independent investigations, related processes, and decisions.

Mr Sutcliffe has appealed this decision to the High Court, as is his right. It is now for the High Court to carefully consider Mr Sutcliffe’s grounds of appeal. It would not be appropriate to comment on or discuss ongoing litigation further.


Written Question
Education: Disadvantaged
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to close the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary state schools in the long-term.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Raising attainment for all pupils is at the heart of this government’s agenda. The disadvantage gap at key stage 2 (KS2), as measured by the disadvantage gap index, is stable compared to 2022 having slightly reduced from 3.23 in 2022 to 3.21 in 2023. The key stage 4 (KS4) disadvantage gap index has widened slightly compared to 2021/22, from 3.84 to 3.95.

Across all major departmental programmes and all phases of education, help to narrow these gaps is targeted towards pupils that need it most. The department is investing in 55 Education Investment Areas where outcomes in literacy and numeracy are the poorest, including £86 million in trust capacity funding to help strong trusts expand into areas most in need of improvement.

Regular school attendance is vital for children’s attainment, mental wellbeing and long term development. The department has a comprehensive strategy in place to improve attendance that includes stronger expectations of the system, an improved data tool, and the expansion of the attendance mentor and attendance hubs programmes. This is important as statistics show that pupils with higher attainment at KS2 and KS4 had lower levels of absence over the key stage compared to those with lower attainment.

The schools National Funding Formula (NFF) targets funding to schools that have the greatest numbers of pupils with additional needs. In 2024/25, the department is targeting over £4.4 billion (10.2%) of the NFF according to deprivation, and over £7.8 billion (17.8%) for additional needs overall. In 2024/25, schools with the highest levels of deprivation, on average, attract the largest per pupil funding increases.

As part of the department’s almost £5 billion multi-year recovery programme, the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) also addresses this gap and has delivered nearly five million tutoring courses since it began in November 2020, of which 345,606 courses were started by pupils from September to October 2023. The department listened to feedback from schools and as a result set the subsidy at 50% for 2023/24, which reduces the amount of money schools contribute towards tutoring, which may enable more tutoring to be delivered. Recovery programmes, such as the NTP and the recovery premium, are also focused on helping the most disadvantaged. The department has provided £1 billion to extend the recovery premium over the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years. This builds on £300 million delivered in 2021/22.

Pupil premium also provides extra support for these children. This funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, an increase of £80 million from 2023/24. The most disadvantaged three and four year olds are also eligible for early years pupil premium funding, which is being extended to the most disadvantaged two year olds from April 2023 and to under twos from September 2023. Low-income families and children experiencing other forms of disadvantage can qualify for 15 hours free early education for two year olds, a year before all children become eligible for 15 hours at ages three and four.

The quality of teaching a pupil receives is the single most important, in-school factor for improving outcomes. That is why the department’s ambition, as set out in the 2022 Schools White Paper, is to build a system of world-class teacher training and professional development that delivers high-quality professional development at every stage of a teacher’s career. 52,939 early career teachers have now benefitted from provider-led training as part of Early Career Framework reforms which are designed to support teachers in their crucial first years in the profession. 65,416 professionals have benefitted from a fully funded National Professional Qualification (NPQ) based on the best available evidence for effective practice since NPQs were reformed in 2021. This represents a substantial increase in comparison to the 33,399 professionals who undertook a funded NPQ in the four years between 2017 and 2021.

Additionally, the Levelling Up Premium offers higher annual payments of up to £3,000 after tax to mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged secondary schools. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department will be doubling the rate of Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax.


Written Question
Teachers: Training
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the teacher Supply Model target for the 2024 entry into initial teacher training is, by subject; and whether that number has been recruited in a previous year.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

There are multiple routes into teaching, including those returning to the profession, those that are new to the English state-funded schools sector, assessment only, and initial teacher training. Approximately 50% of teachers entering into the school workforce each year are newly qualified, with the vast majority of them having been trained via postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) in the previous academic year.

Each year the department sets a target for enrolment on postgraduate certificates in education (PGCE) courses, with the majority of those students entering the teaching workforce in the following year. This is the only route for which the department sets a recruitment target, and this is calculated within the Teacher Workforce Model (TWM).

The postgraduate ITT recruitment targets for those trainees starting in September of the 2024/25 academic year will be published as official statistics in the coming months. However, it will be 2025/26 before those trainees enter into the workforce as newly qualified entrants. The specific publication date will be announced in due course, with all upcoming official statistics publications being announced via the department’s statistics release calendar, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-education&order=updated-newest.

Statistics on recruitment against the 2024/25 targets will be published in late 2024 as part of the ITT census official statistics publication. Data on previous recruitment against historical targets may be found within previously published versions of the ITT census. The 2023/24 version of the census is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-census/2023-24.

The 2023/24 version of the postgraduate ITT recruitment targets publication, calculated by the department’s TWM, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/postgraduate-initial-teacher-training-targets-2023-to-2024.


Written Question
Teachers: Training
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to table 9.1 of her Department's publication entitled Initial teacher training applications for courses starting in the 2024 to 2025 academic year, published on 22 January 2024, how many candidates there were for each secondary subject by (a) region, (b) nation and (c) each other geographical breakdown available.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department is working to ensure teaching remains an attractive, high-status profession, and will recruit and retain the best teachers in the subjects and areas they are needed most.

The department publishes Initial Teacher Training (ITT) recruitment statistics each month, providing insight into ITT candidates applying for courses that start in the 2024/25 academic year. The most recent monthly publication was released on the 22 January 2024 and covers candidates that have applied to ITT courses up to this date. This is available at: https://www.apply-for-teacher-training.service.gov.uk/publications/monthly-statistics.

Table 9.1 of the publication focusses on the number of candidates who have applied to secondary courses by subject. Table 10 of the publication provides further information about candidate applications to training providers, split by region. Additional breakdowns of ITT subject-level data, which splits candidates by the area they have applied from, is available to download in section 11, accessible at: https://www.apply-for-teacher-training.service.gov.uk/publications/monthly-statistics#downloads.


Written Question
Veterans: Teachers
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 4 of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan: 2022‑2024, published in January 2022, how many veterans have joined the teaching profession since the publication of that plan.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department supports Veterans into teaching in primary, secondary, and further education through its broad support services and bursaries. Since the publication of its commitments in the Veterans Strategy Action Plan 2022-2024, the department has tailored support and communications for the Veteran community including dedicated teacher training advisers, webpages, case study blogs on the Get Into Teaching website and information in Civvy Street publications. More information is available at the following weblinks:

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-and-support/if-youre-a-veteran.

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/blog/from-the-army-to-teacher-training.

https://civvystreetmagazine.co.uk/2023/05/bring-your-unique-perspective-to-the-classroom-get-into-teaching-2/.

Also available are bespoke webinars, and attendance at regional employer fairs with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) and British Forces Resettlement Service (BFRS) and more information about these can be found by visiting the following weblinks:

https://www.ctp.org.uk/job-finding/directory/get-into-teaching.

https://www.bfrss.org.uk/profiles/companies/986419/.

Whilst the department collects data to assess the impact of our commitments, it does not have reportable data on the number of veterans applying to initial teacher training. The department is currently exploring what opportunities it has to improve Veteran data capture as it remains committed to promoting opportunities for service leavers and supporting their journey into teaching.


Written Question
Teachers: Parents
Wednesday 6th December 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to retain teachers when they become parents.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Great teaching is transformational for children’s life chances, but the department cannot achieve its ambitions unless there are sufficient teachers. The department recognises there is more to do to ensure teaching remains an attractive, high-status profession, and to recruit and retain the best teachers. The department wants teaching to be an inclusive profession where all teachers, regardless of background or circumstance, are supported throughout their career journeys.

The department’s ‘Teacher Recruitment and Retention’ strategy, published in 2019, outlines the department’s approach to improving teacher retention, including activities which contribute to supporting teachers returning from parental leave or those with caring responsibilities.

Well-designed flexible working can enable individuals to reconcile work and caring responsibilities. The department is taking action to promote flexible working in schools, including by publishing non-statutory guidance and case studies on GOV.UK, a flexible working toolkit, and funding a programme focused on embedding flexible working in schools and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs).

This programme includes the delivery of supportive webinars and peer support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and MATs. This funded programme offers practical support with combining flexible working life as a parent, including how flexible working can be navigated alongside career progression.

The department is also clear about the importance of efforts to reduce unnecessary workload and an improved wellbeing offer for all teachers. Workload is often cited as an important reason why teachers leave the profession. The department is supporting schools to act and remove unhelpful practice that creates unnecessary workload. The department’s school workload reduction toolkit, developed alongside school leaders, is a helpful resource for schools to review and reduce workload.

In September 2023, the department launched a workload reduction taskforce. The taskforce is made up of union representatives, experts and experienced practitioners. The taskforce will make recommendations to government, Ofsted and school and trust leaders by the end of March 2024.

Staff wellbeing is also crucial to the department’s commitment to recruit and retain more teachers and support teacher quality. The department has worked in partnership with the education sector and mental health experts to co-create the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter and is encouraging schools to sign up as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. Over 3,000 schools and colleges have signed up to the charter since it was launched for sign-up in November 2021.