Recommendation 12

We were interested to understand why the Department only has targets for those starting initial teacher training in primary and secondary schools, when this is just one of several entry routes into teaching.27 In the year to November 2023, 41% of secondary teachers entering the workforce were newly qualified teachers, with 39% returners to the state-funded sector, 13% new to the state-funded sector and 7% being deferred newly-qualified teachers. Overall teacher numbers are also impacted by those staying, with the number of qualified teachers leaving secondary schools starting to increase to pre-pandemic levels – 19,860 in 2022–23.28 The Department acknowledged that it had focussed on initial teacher training targets, despite considering other routes within its teacher workforce modelling to calculate these targets. The Department told us it wants to tell the “full story” and recognised the need to change the way it publicly presents other routes into teaching to better reflect how critical these are alongside initial teaching training.29 Written evidence from Education Support proposed that, in the same way that the Department has a teacher trainee target, it should set targets for the numbers of teachers, leaders and support staff it needs to retain as a key performance indicator.30