Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Develop a whole-system strategy to recruit and retain school and college teachers.
Conclusion
The Department has no clear or coherent approach bringing together its various initiatives on teacher recruitment and retention. In 2024–25, the Department had a £700 million package, excluding pay and pensions, for recruitment and retention initiatives which the Department has allocated in a way to make as much progress as possible. This includes bursaries and scholarships to recruit teachers in particular subjects (£233 million budget in 2024–25), and a two-year support package for newly qualified teachers (£131 million budget in 2024–25). It has undertaken some evaluation of its recruitment and retention initiatives, but it has still to undertake a full evaluation, including non-financial initiatives despite a recommendation by a previous Public Accounts Committee in 2016. The Department has limited evidence on the effectiveness of initiatives to improve workload or wellbeing, despite these being common reasons for teachers leaving. Given these gaps, and a lack of targets (beyond those for those starting teacher training), the Department cannot make fully informed decisions on where best to focus resources and justify funding pots. More widely, the Department has started some cross-sector thinking, as well as value for money analysis. This has been used to stop, for example, international relocation payments for trainees. recommendation The Department should develop a whole-system strategy to help frame how it will recruit and retain school and college teachers. This should be based on a fuller evidence base, establish the preferred balance between recruitment and retention initiatives; set appropriate targets for those joining teaching through different routes; and include value for money analysis of different initiatives.
Government Response Summary
The government committed to detailing its whole-system strategy for teacher recruitment and retention across several upcoming policy documents, including the Schools White Paper, the 6,500 delivery plan, and the post-16 education and skills strategy.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. for both sectors. The Schools White Paper will set out how it will better enable teachers and support staff to deliver the very best outcomes for the children they teach. The 6,500 delivery plan will provide detail on the department’s approach to school and college teacher recruitment and retention in high priority areas. The post-16 education and skills strategy will set out the system-wide approach to ensuring every learner has a clear route to further study or work, supported by a high-quality FE workforce. The department is investing in analysing and evaluating policies to understand impact, maximise value for money and ensure focus on our best evidenced levers. The department’s strategy is underpinned by a robust and expanding evidence base, including data from the School Workforce Census, Further Education Workforce in England publication, Initial Teacher Training (ITT) performance profiles for Schools, and evaluations of recruitment and retention initiatives. The department continues to review the balance between recruitment and retention measures to ensure that resources are targeted where they will have the greatest impact. In schools, this includes its current approach of setting clear, evidence-informed targets for entrants through different postgraduate ITT routes, considering whether to adopt this target setting approach in future years, and refining the approach to workforce planning. In colleges, the department is undertaking an evaluation of the Targeted Retention Incentive to better understand its impact on the workforce. The department’s approach ensures that interventions are based on the latest workforce data, reflect government priorities and are informed by wider context, e.g. the latest labour market trends. The department is also embedding value for money analysis into the design and evaluation of all major initiatives, such as the Early Career Framework for Schools and National Professional Qualifications. Strengthening the evidence base remains a key priority especially in FE where the department’s data and therefore its understanding of the workforce is less developed. The FE Workforce in England data publication plays a central role in this. The increase in provider response rates – from 76% to 85% overall between the first and most recent publication, and with approximately 97% of all colleges responding – demonstrates encouraging progress in this area. The department is also taking steps to improve the data and evidence we have available in relation to teacher training for the FE sector.