Select committee: Education Committee
Recommendation 47
Second Report - Teacher recruitment, training and retention
Published 17 May 2024
Paragraph 197
Addressed to Department for Education
Education Committee Teacher recruitment, training and retention All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We strongly disagree with the Department’s decision to axe five subject options from the Department’s subject knowledge enhancement programme offering. Subject knowledge enhancement programmes are crucial in closing knowledge gaps to allow more people to teach in shortages subjects. We consider the removal of 82 Teacher recruitment, training and retention five subjects from this offering to undermine teacher recruitment efforts. We urge the Department to rethink this decision and reinstate funding for subject knowledge enhancement programmes in primary school maths, DT, English, biology and RE.
From: Education Committee, Second Report - Teacher recruitment, training and retention (HC 119), paragraph 197, 17 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 January 2025 (deadline 17 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it "will consider the report's findings and recommendations carefully" and points to its own programme, including recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers, while setting out agreement and disagreement on individual recommendations.
- On extending the Teacher Workforce Model to further education, the Department says it "will continue to keep the schools and further education estimates separate" because of "the differing factors determining both the demand and supply of teachers".
- On subject-level data, it says it "will explore publishing subject level leaver rates" in future School Workforce Census publications, but does not publish reasons for leaving by subject "due to small sample sizes".
- On a bursary for career changers, it states "We do not believe there is a need to introduce a bursary specifically for career changers", noting that such trainees can access existing bursaries and scholarships.
- On NPQ funding, it is "committed to continue delivering funded NPQs in 2025", with future funding "confirmed in due course following the multiyear Spending Review".