Transparency data

Accounting officer assessment: teacher development reform

Updated 30 April 2024

Applies to England

Accounting officers scrutinise significant policy proposals, projects or programmes and make sure the actions of the public organisation they lead meet the 4 accounting officer standards (regularity, propriety, value for money and feasibility) as set out in managing public money.

From April 2017, the government has committed to making a summary of the key points from these assessments available to Parliament when an accounting officer has conducted an assessment of a project or programme within the government’s major projects portfolio (GMPP).

This is a summary of the accounting officer assessment of the teacher development reform programme approved in June 2021.

Background

The teacher development reform (TDR) programme is part of the wider reforms to teacher continual professional development (CPD). It is also part of the Department for Education (DfE) teacher recruitment and retention strategy, referenced in the recent DfE white paper published in March 2022, Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child.

The TDR programme includes the early career framework (ECF) and national professional qualifications (NPQ). These exciting innovations are part of the investment in teachers and leaders which include a new 2 year induction for early career teachers, with mentors trained and provided to support new teachers, and new specialist national professional qualifications (NPQs) as well as reforms to our existing leadership NPQs.

The ECF reforms aim to raise teacher quality by strengthening induction support for early career teachers and improve the retention of teachers at the beginning of their career and, in turn, contribute to improving pupil outcomes. The ECF programme has also provided increased support to around 25,000 early career teachers who faced most disruption from the pandemic in the academic year 2021 to 2022.

NPQs are a national, voluntary suite of qualifications designed to support the professional development of teachers and leaders. They support the aim to deliver an excellent teaching profession through high quality, evidence based CPD for teachers, leading to improved teacher quality and retention and, in turn, pupil outcomes. As part of education recovery funding, the department has significantly increased the availability of funded NPQ scholarships in order to deliver 150,000 training places by 2023 to 2024.

Assessment against accounting officer standards

Regularity

The legal power to fund this major programme is section 10 of the Education Act 1996, which is a wide power for the Secretary of State to promote education. Expenditure on educational related purposes, including teacher training, is covered in the departmental ambit.

Providers of ECF-based training and NPQs have been contracted to deliver these services by the department through an open and legally compliant public procurement.

Propriety

Both the ECF and NPQ programmes have complied with departmental and governmental governance and assurance requirements and expectations. Additionally, the ECF and NPQ full business cases were approved by the department’s Investment Committee and also by HM Treasury.

Value for money

There is a strong rationale for continuing to invest in high quality CPD, and a good case that ECF-based training and NPQs are the right vehicle for this.

Evidence shows that good quality CPD can positively affect student outcomes and increase teacher retention. For example, a recently published meta-analysis of the impact of teacher CPD on pupil outcomes showed an average effect size equating to approximately one GCSE grade of improvement, which compares favourably to other educational interventions. The same research also concluded that increasing the availability of high quality CPD has been shown to improve retention, particularly for early career teachers, and induction training and mentoring programmes are particularly effective for improving retention rates for early career teachers.

To ensure quality, the department consulted on introducing further qualifications and the majority of respondents advocated that these should be NPQs. Legacy NPQs have benefitted existing leaders and developed a pipeline of future leaders, and previously published evaluations have found that the majority of participants report an improved level of confidence as a result of participating in the qualification.

The department currently makes a significant investment in the recruitment of teachers, but the school workforce census shows that in recent years over 30% of teachers leave the state sector within 5 years of teaching. Research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies in 2016 suggested taking account of the initial cost of training and the high dropout rate, on average more than £38,000 is spent on training for every teacher still in post 5 years after completing training.

Improving induction through the ECF is expected to improve retention and improve the value for money from our investment in recruitment and training of teachers. The improved early career retention would also improve the overall experience profile of teachers, which evidence also suggests leads to better pupil outcomes.

Feasibility

There are some challenges and risks associated with demand for NPQs over the term of this parliament. However, we consider this can be managed through a mixture of active stakeholder engagement and communications, as well as funding to support delivery and implementing effective governance and review processes.

Conclusion

As the accounting officer for the Department for Education, I have prepared this summary to set out the key points that informed my decision in June 2021.

I have considered this assessment against the 4 accounting officer standards and I am satisfied the programme relies on clear legal powers, meets the standards of managing public money and accords with the generally understood principles of public life; represents good value for money for the Exchequer as a whole; and is feasible to deliver.

If any of these factors change materially during the lifetime of this project, I undertake to prepare a revised summary, setting out my assessment of them.

This summary will be published on the government’s website (GOV.UK). Copies will be deposited in the Library of the House of Commons, and sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General and Treasury Officer of Accounts.

Susan Acland-Hood

Permanent Secretary