Commenting on an analysis commissioned by the NFER on the impact
of pay and other incentives on teacher recruitment and retention,
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
"This NFER analysis highlights yet again that unless teacher pay
is addressed the recruitment and retention crisis that is
gripping education will continue.
"The teacher supply crisis has been made and sustained by a
government unwilling to change path no matter what the damage to
learners and those that teach, support and develop them.
"This new analysis finds that if teacher pay merely increases in
line with average earnings, the Department for Education will
continue to recruit barely half the required number of secondary
trainees per year. And by 2027/28, primary trainee teachers will
drop to similar levels of shortfall despite falling
rolls.
"This is a big problem that requires big solutions, and long-term
strategies are long overdue. With teaching shortages now across
many subjects, piecemeal solutions will not work.
"The NEU has already put the Government on watch and is calling
for a fully funded above inflation pay increase to start the
process of pay correction for the profession. A whole market
approach to pay restoration is needed but must be accompanied by
politicians taking workload reduction seriously, and a holistic
approach to making jobs in schools as attractive as those
elsewhere in the economy."
