Recommendation 8

Although unable to breakdown the pledge by time or educational setting, or provide a baseline, the Department described having started delivering the pledge through, for example, the 5.5% pay award for schoolteachers in 2024–25 and an increase to the financial incentives package for schools 10 C&AG’s Report, para 2.37 11 ITN0006, Written evidence submitted by the National Foundation for Educational Research ; ITN0012, Written evidence submitted by the Campaign for Mathematical Sciences 12 C&AG’s Report, para 1.9 13 Qq 14, 65 14 Q 63 15 Q 66 16 Qq 65-67; C&AG’s Report, paras 19, 2.41-2.42 17 ITN0011, Written evidence submitted by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation 11 and colleges.18 The Department told us it was already seeing a positive impact, including 2,000 more secondary teachers starting training than the previous year and early signs of around 1,000 more teachers applying for the next year. It also now expects to retain about 2,500 more teachers than it had previously expected.19 Recruitment and retention