Recommendation 22

HM Government Accepted

The Government accepts this recommendation. We agree with the Committee that there is a clear need to explore ways in which teachers can gain familiarity with the world of work in sectors relevant to the subjects they teach, in order to be able to pass this knowledge on to their pupils. As set out in the introduction, we welcome the Committee’s interest in the work led by The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to connect teachers with business. The Teacher Encounters programme, launched in January 2023, aims to immerse 1,000 subject teachers in industry encounters, to give them insights into the different career pathways available locally and to provide inspiration to link their teaching to the world of work. Over 800 encounters had already taken place by summer 2023. The Department is investing in this programme to provide more teachers with experience of modern workplaces across a range of sectors. This will help to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and understanding to embed careers into their teaching effectively. The Department is also investing in a package of direct support for the FE Workforce in 2023–24, to continue to support the FE sector with the recruitment, retention and development of teachers. This includes a national recruitment campaign and Teach in FE service to support prospective FE teachers into jobs. We continue to offer FE teacher training bursaries in priority subjects. Applications for the 2023/24 academic year opened on 7 March, with increased bursary values of up to £29,000 each, tax-free. The latest round of Taking Teaching Further is live, supporting FE providers to recruit and support those with relevant knowledge and industry experience to retrain as FE teachers. We will set out further detail in the Strategic Action Plan for Careers, which we will publish in 2024. This will include findings following stakeholder discussions on the best way to implement the Committee’s recommendations and set timeframes for doing so.