Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Update Committee on recruitment and retention plans for the further education sector.
Conclusion
The Department has recently increased its focus on addressing the significant teacher gaps across further education colleges, but there remains much more to do. A shortage of further education college teachers, which impacts the type and extent of skills developed, puts the achievement of the government’s missions for opportunity and growth at risk. In general, further education colleges, 5.1 out of every 100 positions were vacant in 2022–23 and the Department estimate that colleges will need 8,400 to 12,400 more teachers by 2028–29. Compared to schools, the workforce data kept by the Department is less detailed and complete, requiring it to make broader assumptions as part of its workforce model. The Department has begun to focus more on addressing teacher shortages in further education, describing this as now a strong focus. The Department say this includes recently providing £400 million additional funding to the sector, extending targeted retention incentives to further education from October 2024, and bringing in professionals who teach alongside working in industry. This also helps ensure students are taught the latest practices. College teacher pay remains, on average, £10,000 lower than school teacher pay. With no national pay review body, colleges set their own pay considering the funding from the Department, but colleges continue to feel there has been limited additional funding despite government’s positive messages. recommendation Given the urgent need for further education teachers, the Department should update the Committee on its full recruitment and retention plans for the further education sector as soon as possible, including expanding dual professional and industry partnerships in areas of key skill shortages, and then every six months until summer 2028, on its progress addressing gaps. 6
Government Response Summary
The government committed to detailing its FE teacher recruitment and retention plans in upcoming documents and providing biannual updates on progress, starting with the next Further Education Workforce data publication.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. recruitment and retention of FE teachers. As a first step, the 6,500 delivery plan will provide detail on the department’s approach to college teacher recruitment and retention in high-priority areas, alongside schools, including how the department will measure, track and record progress against the pledge. Additionally, the post-16 education and skills strategy will be published in the Autumn and will set out a system-wide approach to ensuring every learner has a clear route to further study or work, guided by the Curriculum and Assessment Review, and strengthening support for the FE workforce to boost teaching quality and sector prestige. The department is already taking steps to strengthen construction skills and support the recruitment and retention of industry-experienced teachers, through the development of a new Further Education (FE) Teacher Industry Exchange scheme. This initiative will foster partnerships between colleges and construction companies, enabling more professionals from industry to transition into teaching, while also offering current FE teachers' opportunities to refresh and update their industry knowledge and skills. The annual publication of the Further Education Workforce in England publication will serve as the most reliable source for tracking progress on recruitment and retention across the sector, as well as for understanding vacancy rates across the sector to enable the department to identify the areas of greatest challenge. Following the next publication of the Further Education Workforce data, the department will provide its first update on progress being made on teacher recruitment and retention, as well as the commitment to deliver 6,500 additional teachers. In between data collections, its biannual update will set out progress on programme delivery to address key skills shortages. The department has already taken substantial steps to support recruitment and retention of staff in FE. Despite challenging fiscal conditions, the department has prioritised funding for colleges as set out above in paragraph 1.3. Additionally, to help meet the growing demand from an increasing number of young learners, the department is also investing over £1.2 billion annually in Skills – supporting 1.3 million 16–19-year-olds each year – including 65,000 additional learners by 2028-29. The Targeted Retention Incentive (TRI) will also continue to offer financial support to retain teachers in the areas of greatest need in all FE colleges.