Policy paper

Teacher recruitment and retention strategy

Updated 5 February 2019

Applies to England

Foreword from the Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP

As Education Secretary, I am fortunate to witness the expertise, enthusiasm and commitment that teachers show in classrooms each and every day. Teachers shape the lives of their pupils and – in turn – the future of our country.

This government’s vision is for all young people to have access to a world-class education – no matter where they are or what their background is. This belief has underpinned our ambitious education reforms since 2010, which have at their heart a determination that every child should attend a great school.

But there are no great schools without great teachers. The key to education is the person at the front of the classroom. At a time when there are more pupils in our schools than ever before, we need to be attracting and keeping great people in teaching.

Last March, I committed to develop a Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. I wanted us to take an unflinching look at the problems, and to listen to what teachers and headteachers had to say about how to begin to solve them. Developed collaboratively with the profession and experts across the sector, this document sets out the government’s priorities for making sure a career in teaching continues to be attractive, sustainable and rewarding.

At the heart of the strategy is a commitment to transform support for teachers at the start of their career, with the launch of the Early Career Framework (ECF). This will underpin an entitlement to a funded two-year support package for new teachers, providing them with the early career support enjoyed by other top professionals.

The strategy also emphasises the importance of school culture. This is rightly the domain of headteachers, not government. But government is responsible for supporting headteachers to create great cultures in their schools.

The strategy sets out the steps we will take to support headteachers to drive down unnecessary workload and pressure so that they can ensure schools are brilliant places to work, freeing teachers to focus on teaching great lessons.

People enter teaching motivated by the chance to change lives. I am determined that those who are called to this noble profession stay in it, where they will continue to inspire children for many years to come.

Sector foreword – a shared vision for the profession

Teaching is unique in combining such a rich range of professional skills and knowledge, deep personal challenge and a sense of being part of a wider mission. Each and every day, teachers inspire children, raising their eyes to a world of possibility and supporting them to fulfil their potential.

There are many great schools in this country, but schools can only ever be as good as the people that work in them. Over a number of years, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit and retain staff of the calibre required.

The Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy presents an important step in tackling this issue, in which all of us – government, the profession, and inspectorate – need to play our part to deliver on the ambition set.

The Early Career Framework, in particular, is strongly welcomed and has the potential to transform the support provided to recently qualified teachers in the critical first years of teaching.

If we are successful in meeting the ambitions set out in this strategy, we will do more than attract and keep more great teachers. For a world class workforce to flourish, we must:

• Get the balance right between holding schools to account and helping them to improve;
• Make the job manageable again, eradicating unnecessary workload and developing arrangements that support flexible working; and
• Invest in and embed school cultures that create a sense of value through ongoing professional development.

This strategy can help to create these conditions.

Teachers typically enter the profession with energy and a strong sense of collective purpose. Harnessing that energy and purpose, deepening expertise and professionalism and exciting teachers about teaching has never been more important.

We share the ambition of this strategy and are fully committed to playing our part in delivering on it.

• Geoff Barton General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
• Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretaries of the National Education Union (NEU)
• Kevan Collins, Chief Executive, Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)
• Leora Cruddas, Chief Executive, Confederation of School Trusts (CST)
• Emma Knights, Chief Executive, National Governance Association (NGA)
• Alison Peacock, Chief Executive, Chartered College of Teaching (CCOT)
• Amanda Spielman, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Ofsted
• Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)

Introduction

There are no great schools without great teachers, and no other profession is as important in shaping the lives of the next generation.

A strategy to support teacher recruitment and retention should not be dictated by government. To that end, this strategy has been developed collaboratively with teachers, headteachers, representative bodies, initial teacher training providers and leading experts.

This strategy is NOT intended to be an exhaustive list of all our work. Instead, it outlines the key areas where our focus, reform and investment will have the biggest impact on improving teacher recruitment and retention, helping to meet the shared challenge that we face.^{[footnote 1]}

This strategy marks the start of a conversation with the profession and is an articulation of our priorities ahead of the comprehensive spending review. Importantly, it represents an adjustment of focus, recognising that greater attention must be given to ensuring that teaching is a profession where people are supported to stay and thrive.

Strategy overview

Teachers enter the profession motivated by the chance to change lives. We must harness that motivation and ensure that careers in teaching are attractive, sustainable and rewarding.

This must begin with the right foundations. At the centre of this strategy is the most significant reform to teaching in a generation – the introduction of the Early Career Framework, published today. The framework will underpin a step change in support for early career teachers, providing a funded entitlement to a structured 2-year package of high quality development.

Careers in teaching must be able to reflect the different lives and aspirations of teachers. We will build on the Early Career Framework, ensuring that it provides the foundation for further professional development and clearer career pathways for teachers, including those who want to stay and excel in the classroom.

Crucially, we will help to create the wider conditions in which teachers can focus on teaching – working with headteachers to create a clear and supportive system that allows them to provide a positive school culture to attract, retain and nurture their staff.

The main chapters of this document identify 4 key barriers to achieving our ambitions, and outline the steps we will take to begin to overcome them. The most significant of these are summarised below. The first 3 chapters focus on teacher retention – reflecting our renewed emphasis on this challenge – with the final chapter returning to recruitment, outlining steps designed to make it easier for great people to start and return to teaching.

Four key barriers and strategy priorities to address them

Key barrier 1

The wider context in which headteachers operate can create pressure that leads to excessive workload that distracts teachers from teaching.

Priority 1

We will help to create the right climate for headteachers and other school leaders to establish supportive school cultures. At the heart of this will be reforming the accountability system. In particular:

• We will radically simplify the system, consulting on making ‘requires improvement’ the sole trigger for an offer of support – replacing floor and coasting standards; and
• The new Ofsted framework will have an active focus on reducing teacher workload, with inspectors:
  • considering staff workload as part of the leadership and management judgement;
  • looking unfavourably on schools that have burdensome data practices; and
  • not looking at internal assessment data.

Key barrier 2

Not enough early career teachers receive the high quality support they need to build the foundation for a successful career.

Priority 2

We will transform support for early career teachers, introducing the most significant reform to teaching since it became a graduate only profession – backed by substantial extra investment. In particular:

• We will launch the Early Career Framework. This will underpin an entitlement to a fully-funded, 2-year package of structured support for early career teachers linked to the best available research evidence – alongside funded time off timetable in the second year of teaching and support for mentors; and
• We will create a major shift in the incentives for new teachers by introducing phased bursaries – with staggered retention payments to encourage good people to remain in the profession, as well as to join.

Key barrier 3

A career in teaching does not always adapt to the expertise and lives of teachers.

Priority 3

We will build on the foundation of the Early Career Framework to support teachers – whatever their expertise or circumstances – to pursue the right career opportunities for them. In particular:

• We will develop specialist qualifications to support clearer non-leadership career pathways for teachers that want to stay and excel in the classroom;
• We will invest in these new and existing leadership qualifications, and will do so disproportionately in challenging schools - encouraging good teachers to work, stay and develop where the need is greatest; and
• We will support headteachers to adapt to changing demands by helping to transform approaches to flexible working in schools.

Key barrier 4

The process to become a teacher is too complicated and burdensome.

Priority 4

We will radically simplify the process for becoming a teacher, introducing new digital systems designed to make application much easier and more user-friendly. In particular:

• We will introduce a new one-stop application system for initial teacher training (ITT), which will be easier to use and designed to better meet the needs of potential trainees; and
• We will review the ITT market to support it to work more efficiently and effectively.

Working with headteachers and other school leaders

The most important influences on a teacher’s working life are found in their own school. Where a school’s culture is right, teaching is an inspiring and rewarding job. School leaders are, rightly, responsible for creating this culture. But we recognise that we are responsible for the wider climate in which they operate.

We know that teacher workload in this country is too high and must be reduced. But we also know that this is a complex and nuanced issue.

In developing this strategy, teachers have told us that they like to work hard when they can see the difference they are making. When their efforts align with the moral purpose that brought them into the profession, when the support and professional development they receive helps them do their job better, when they feel their work supports pupils to progress – then teachers love the work they do.

There should be no tension between making a school a great place for teachers to work and making it a great place for pupils to learn. A school with high expectations, excellent behaviour and relationships, committed staff, effective professional development and purposeful and manageable work is good for teachers and good for pupils.

This is the sort of school that parents want, teachers want, government wants and headteachers and other school leaders want to create. For many teachers, this is already the case. But not for enough.

External pressures of accountability, change and challenging pupil behaviour can make leading schools difficult and demanding – particularly challenging schools. These factors can create pressure that is transmitted to teachers: headteachers can take actions that create workload and stress for teachers because they feel they have no choice, becoming more likely to over-control, over-track data and create defensive evidence to protect their school.

We have no doubt that our education reforms and those of the last 30 years have been beneficial to young people. Expectations are higher, consistency is greater and parents’ hopes of a place in a good school for their child are now met across large parts of the country. The national curriculum, testing, inspection, leadership training and reform of teacher education have reduced the number of poor quality schools. Very few people would want to go back.

But we also recognise that there are unintended consequences in the current system that make it harder for school leaders to create the right environment for their staff.

We know the pressure headteachers are under to ensure pupils get the results they deserve and to secure the right Ofsted judgement. And we appreciate the difficulties faced by headteachers trying to motivate, support and improve a diverse staff body and the emotional burdens that come with keeping pupils safe.

Our goal now is not to return to the past or to create a system without accountability. But we do want to help headteachers to reduce unnecessary pressures that can lead to poor working environments.

We want to start a conversation with headteachers about how we can support them to set a culture in their school that: reduces unnecessary planning, marking and data requirements; supports teachers to deal with disruptive behaviour; and establishes a culture that values continued professional development and flexible working at all career stages.  

The challenge

Our challenge is simply stated. We have close to the highest number of serving teachers on record. Last year, we recruited more trainee teachers into the profession than in the previous 5 years – over 2,000 more than the year before. But the growing number of pupils of secondary age means that we need even more teachers at a time when we have the most competitive labour market on record. At the same time, we are losing more teachers from the profession than we can afford.

A demographic bulge is moving into secondary schools

The coming growth in secondary age pupils is significant. By 2025 there will be 15% more pupils in secondary schools than there were in 2018.^{[footnote 2]} We will need to increase secondary teacher numbers to meet this demand – which is especially difficult in the shortage subjects, including maths, science and modern foreign languages.

There has never been a more competitive labour market

Unsurprisingly, it is always hardest to recruit teachers when the jobs market is buoyant, as graduates and career changers have a wide choice of work. The labour market is continuing to perform strongly, with unemployment at its lowest rate since the 1970s and employment at a record high, making competition for potential teachers fierce.

Retention is a growing challenge

Even small increases in the rate of teachers leaving the profession creates significant, additional pressures on recruitment. The small decline in teacher retention rates in recent years has created challenges. Had retention rates been stronger, teacher supply would have better kept up with the growth in pupil numbers.^{[footnote 3]}

See reference^{[footnote 4]}

Retention issues are most acute for early career teachers

The demands of starting working life are substantial in most professions. This can be particularly pronounced for new teachers, who must come to grips with a new set of skills and the challenge of being constantly on show and in demand from multiple directions in each lesson. However, the challenge of retaining early career teachers has been getting worse in recent years. Over 20% of new teachers leave the profession within their first 2 years of teaching, and 33% leave within their first 5 years.^{[footnote 5]}

See reference^{[footnote 6]}

Schools in disadvantaged areas face the biggest problems

This wider challenge is most acute in schools serving areas of disadvantage, who face higher levels of turnover and can have particular problems in attracting subject specialists in some subjects.^{[footnote 7]} More than one in ten teachers from the most disadvantaged secondary schools leave to teach in other schools: about twice the proportion who make the same move from the least disadvantaged schools. And in schools outside London with low levels of disadvantage, over half of GCSE maths lessons are taught by teachers with maths degrees. In schools with high levels of disadvantage, this figure is only 37%.^{[footnote 8]}

Teacher workload is the reason most often cited for teachers leaving the profession

Teacher workload is too high and this has been a long-standing issue. But workload is not simply about number of hours worked; it is also about teachers feeling in control of their work. Analysis of the OECD’s international survey of teachers found that the number of hours worked did not significantly affect job satisfaction, but that teachers who reported their workload as ‘unmanageable’ did have lower levels of job satisfaction.^{[footnote 9]} Yet, less than half of teachers’ working time is spent directly on teaching.^{[footnote 10]}

A positive school culture – including good pupil behaviour – is crucial for retention

The stresses of life as a teacher are increased significantly for teachers who work in less positive cultures: where pupil behaviour is poor, relationships with colleagues are strained, there is less investment in the development of staff or there is a ‘micro-managing’ culture with excessive data collection. Evidence suggests that teachers leaving the profession often go to jobs that pay less, in search of a better work-life balance.^{[footnote 11]}

Flexible and part-time working opportunities are increasingly important

Teachers leaving the profession often move to flexible or part-time work – there appears to be unmet demand for part-time work in schools. Only 28% of female teachers work part-time, compared to an average of 40% of women in the UK and fewer men do too (8% compared to 12% in the whole economy).^{[footnote 12]} Improving opportunities to work flexibly will be important in retaining more teachers in the profession and in attracting returners and career changers.

Meeting the challenge will require government and schools to work together

The school system faces substantial difficulties that are beyond its control, including a demographic bulge moving into secondary schools and an ever more competitive jobs market. However, there are a number of key factors that the school system can address. Government cannot do so alone – rightly, school leaders hold much of the power to affect these things. But we can do more to support leaders to create positive working environments and to support the strengthening of the profession. This document sets out how we will do so. 

Chapter 1: Create the right climate for leaders to establish supportive school cultures

Summary

The wider context in which headteachers currently operate can create pressure that leads to excessive workload that distracts teachers from teaching. In this chapter we set out how we will help to create the right climate for headteachers and other school leaders to establish supportive school cultures. At the heart of this will be reforming the accountability system. In particular:

• We will radically simplify the system, consulting on making ‘requires improvement’ the sole trigger for an offer of support – replacing floor and coasting standards; and
• The new Ofsted framework will have an active focus on the need to tackle teacher workload.

Key challenges:

The culture of a school is what makes it unique. It permeates everything a school does and shapes the experiences of pupils. A school’s culture – whether academy or maintained, primary or secondary – makes the biggest difference to whether or not teachers remain in the profession.

School leaders are rightly responsible for the culture in their schools. But they do not operate in a vacuum. We are responsible for helping to create the climate in which school leaders – including headteachers, trust boards and governing bodies – operate.

Important reforms have raised standards for pupils, but there have at times been unintended consequences. We are determined to put this right, as schools with high behavioural and academic standards, supported by strong systems and a culture of support and challenge, are best for both teachers and pupils.

In many schools, this is already the reality. We are determined to make important adjustments to our stewardship of the school system, supporting headteachers and other school leaders to focus on creating the right culture for their pupils and staff.

To do so, we must address the following key challenges:

A. School accountability can create unintended consequences that drive teacher workload;

B. Headteachers and teachers have had to manage significant change;

C. Challenging pupil behaviour can be a significant factor in teacher workload and pressure; and

D. Headteachers require additional support to meet specific challenges.

Addressing the key challenges:

A. We will reduce the unintended workload pressures created by the accountability system

School accountability is vital, as children only get one chance at an education. We know that teachers and headteachers recognise this. However, we recognise that the current system can have unintended consequences that add unnecessary workload burdens and pressure – particularly for schools in challenging circumstances.

This wider climate directly shapes the context in which teachers work and therefore goes to the heart of the recruitment and retention challenge.

We will create a clear and transparent accountability system, which supports headteachers

School accountability needs to be simpler and more supportive. Headteachers should have complete clarity on the ‘rules of the game’, the roles of different actors and the offer that is available to them to help to improve their schools.

That is why we have clarified that the role of regional school commissioners is to commission, and that only Ofsted inspects. We will end what can feel like multiple inspections, giving headteachers and other school leaders of good and outstanding schools confidence that government trusts them and respects their autonomy.

But confusion in the accountability system has been most acute in relation to defining educational underperformance and identifying the schools in need of additional support. Performance data is of course important. But it can only ever be the starting point for understanding the needs of a school, informing a more rounded judgement.

We will therefore radically simplify the system:

• Formal intervention – including forced academisation – will only ever result from an Ofsted ‘inadequate’ judgement; and
• We are launching a consultation on an Ofsted ‘requires improvement’ judgement becoming the sole trigger for a concrete and straightforward offer of support from September 2019 – replacing the floor and coasting standards.

School leaders must have the clarity, certainty and support that will enable them to create a positive environment for their staff.

To support this, we will also carry out a wholesale review of the role of teaching schools and our existing system leadership designations, ensuring that our system of school improvement support is as strong as possible. In particular, we want to bring more multi-academy trusts (MATs) – with proven records of driving improvement – more squarely into our school improvement offer.

We will work with Ofsted to drive down workload by tackling the ‘audit culture’

Ofsted has been a force for good over the past 30 years, playing a vital role in raising school standards and in providing important information to parents. But as with other forms of accountability, perceptions of what Ofsted wants have unintentionally contributed to behaviours that can distract headteachers and teachers from their core purpose.

Ofsted has worked to combat the myths about ‘what Ofsted wants’, but a more direct approach is needed. The new inspection framework will rightly rebalance inspection towards the wider substance of what happens in a school – supporting higher standards for pupils and complementing performance tables.

And for the first time, this new framework will have a clear and active focus on the need to tackle teacher workload. Inspectors will:

• Consider whether teacher workload is unnecessarily high as part of the Leadership and Management judgement;
• Look unfavourably on schools that implement burdensome data collection practices; and
• Not look at any internal assessment data, ending the perception that excessive data needs to be prepared and collated purely to satisfy Ofsted.

To give headteachers confidence that inspections will be consistent on this and on their wider myth-busting work, Ofsted will also be introducing a new hotline for headteachers to report breaches of these specific commitments directly to their central office.

We must put an end to the unintended consequences of our accountability system by being clear with schools that we do not expect to see – and no arm of government will ever ask for – the following:

• Data tracking systems;
• Specific evidence of lesson-planning and marking; and
• Pupil targets and predictions.

This is in line with Professor Becky Allen’s Making Data Work report, which both the department and Ofsted have accepted in full. This should give headteachers and, importantly, trust boards and governing bodies the confidence to free teachers from unnecessary and burdensome tasks.

B. We will maintain a period of greater stability in curriculum, qualifications and assessment

Since 2010, we have introduced important and necessary reforms to curriculum, assessment and qualifications. These reforms – and the hard work of teachers and headteachers – have helped to transform the life chances of pupils.

We make no apology for our focus on raising standards for pupils. But we know that the scale and pace of change has created additional burdens on teachers.

It is now time to allow these reforms to bed-in, providing headteachers and other school leaders with the space to focus on creating the right culture for their school. That is why we are committed to a period of greater curriculum, assessment and qualification stability for the duration of this parliament. Beyond those already announced, there will be:

• No additional statutory tests or assessment for primary schools;
• No further changes to the national curriculum; and
• No more reform of GCSEs or A-levels.

C. We will provide additional support to tackle challenging pupil behaviour

Misbehaviour – from low-level disruption to violent conduct – is a key driver of teacher workload and stress.^{[footnote 13]} Yet too many teachers feel unsupported to deal with challenging pupil behaviour.

We have already taken important steps, empowering teachers and headteachers to make use of same-day detentions, clarifying when reasonable force is necessary, extending search powers, and reforming the exclusion review process.

But there is more to do to ensure that every teacher – at whatever stage in their career – is free to teach within an inclusive and supportive wider school culture. This is why:

• The Early Career Framework (detailed in chapter 2) will underpin a specific new entitlement for every new teacher to receive enhanced training in behaviour and classroom management at the outset of their career;
• We announced in October that we are investing £10 million to create behaviour hubs to facilitate sharing of best practice on classroom management and effective whole-school systems – building on the findings from Tom Bennett’s Creating a Culture report; and
• Behaviour will become more prominent in the new Ofsted inspection framework, with one of the 4 categories dedicated to assessing how schools create a culture in which teachers can teach and pupils can learn.

D. We are providing additional support to help headteachers meet key challenges

We know that another key factor that shapes headteachers’ ability to create the right environment for their staff is having the right resources. Whilst there is more money going into schools than ever before, we recognise the budgeting challenges schools face and that more is being asked of them.

We are taking steps to support schools with this:

• All teachers should be fairly remunerated for the work that they do. That’s why we accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommended 3.5% uplift to the main pay range for this current academic year. We also announced a substantial uplift to pay ranges for leaders and higher-paid teachers: the minimum and maximum of the upper pay range were uplifted by 2% and on the leadership pay range by 1.5%.

• We will ensure that teaching continues to offer one of the best pensions of any profession – as well as meeting the additional employer pensions contributions (see consultation^{[footnote 14]}), saving schools £830 million in 2019-20.

• We have recently announced an additional £250 million of funding over the next two years, and £100 million of capital, in addition to the £6 billion already provided for the high needs budget this year to provide support for children with complex needs.^{[footnote 15]} We are also making available an additional £1.4 billion between 2015 and 2020 to improve specialist children and young people’s mental health services, with further investment under the NHS Long Term Plan.

• We will launch the new nationwide Teaching Vacancies service in March, allowing schools to advertise posts free of charge to tackle the up to £75 million per year spent on advertising for full time posts.

Some teachers receive additional benefits from their employers, such as help with childcare, transport season ticket loans and discounted gym membership. We want to see these benefits become more widespread, and to see greater innovation in how teachers are supported. We will be partnering with schools, MATs, and local authorities in challenging areas, to develop attractive “local offer” packages to increase teacher recruitment and retention locally. We will also explore how we can work with schools and support them to use data to improve teacher retention.

We know that housing is an issue for teachers in areas of short supply. We will explore whether there is demand from teachers for new homes on surplus school land. If there is clear and sufficient demand, we will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to explore whether an extension of permitted development rights is needed to speed up such developments.

Working with headteachers and other school leaders

At the heart of this strategy must be transforming the day-to-day experience of teachers – with individual school cultures being the most important factor affecting this experience. We must do more – and, as we have set out in this chapter, we will do more – to improve this wider climate and to create the supportive conditions so that headteachers and school leaders can make the right decisions for their pupils and staff.

There are also a series of important, more specific strategic interventions that we can and should make to support teacher recruitment and retention. The following chapters outline these interventions, beginning with where we think we can have the greatest impact – and therefore intend to place the greatest emphasis and additional resource: supporting early career teachers.

Chapter 2: Transforming support for early career teachers

Summary

Not enough early career teachers receive the high quality support they need to build the foundation for a successful career. In this chapter we set out how we will transform support for early career teachers, introducing the most significant reform to teaching since it became a graduate-only profession – backed by substantial extra investment. In particular:

• We are launching the Early Career Framework. This will underpin an entitlement to a fully-funded, 2-year package of structured support for all early career teachers linked to the best available research evidence – including funded time off timetable in the second year of teaching and additional support for mentors; and

• We will create a major shift in the incentives for new teachers by introducing phased bursaries – with staggered retention payments to encourage good people to remain in the profession, as well as to join.

Key challenges:

Teaching shapes the life chances of the next generation. It is unique in helping others to realise their potential, shaping their future and the future of society. The way in which people enter and take their first steps in a teaching career – including the support they receive – should reflect the importance of this vital profession.

However, too many teachers leave within the first 5 years, with drop-out within the first 2 years particularly sharp. Many schools provide excellent support for new teachers. However, just when the job is most challenging, too many teachers feel unsupported to make the difference that brought them into the profession.

As with other top professions, we are determined to create a package of support and incentives so that every new teacher is supported to lay the platform for a fulfilling and rewarding career.

To do so, we must address the following key challenges:

A. Not enough teachers receive the high quality support and development they need at the outset of their career, when the learning curve is steepest;

B. Financial incentives are focused solely on recruitment and do not encourage early career retention; and

C. Early career teachers are too often expected to plan and resource lessons from scratch.

Addressing the key challenges:

A. We will fully fund a transformation in the support given to teachers at the start of their career through a new Early Career Framework

The ECF can be a game changer in terms of early career retention and teacher quality. It represents the most significant reform to teaching in a generation. It embeds a funded entitlement to training and guarantees all early career teachers access to a shared understanding of the best available evidence – akin to the highest performing systems internationally.

(Professor Samantha Twiselton, Director, Sheffield Institute of Education)

Early career retention is now the biggest challenge that we face. And it is where government can help to make the biggest difference by investing significantly. The approach set out in this chapter – and the significant investment in the ECF in particular – is therefore the centrepiece of this strategy, marking the area where we can have the greatest strategic impact by allocating resource and effort.

The Early Career Framework

Designed in close partnership with teachers, headteachers, academics, the Chartered College of Teaching and the Education Endowment Foundation, the ECF underpins what all early career teachers should be entitled to learn about and learn how to do based on expert guidance and the best available research evidence. It focuses on 5 key areas – behaviour management, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and professional behaviours.

Launching the ECF is the first step in transforming the support and professional development available to new teachers. The ECF will underpin a step change in support and training – including a trained mentor – for all early career teachers, providing the foundations of a successful and rewarding career.

To realise this, we are extending the length of the induction phase so that all early career teachers will receive a sustained and structured package of support over the first 2 years of their career.

Our vision is for the ECF to build on high quality initial teacher training (ITT) and become the cornerstone of a successful career in teaching and that it will:

• Become a shared body of professional knowledge and skills – which will evolve over time – in which all new entrants are trained;

• Provide the starting point for a review to the ITT core content guidance – working closely with key sector bodies, such as UCET and NASBTT – to ensure the ECF builds on and complements ITT; and

• Provide the platform for further professional development and clearer career pathways as teachers develop specialist expertise (see chapter 3).

We have consulted widely as we have developed the ECF. Headteachers and teachers have warmly welcomed the framework and the extended induction period to facilitate the extra support. However, they have been extremely clear on 4 important points:

• Additional funding is needed to support the roll-out of the ECF reforms – this opportunity will be entirely lost if it is not adequately resourced or it becomes an additional burden on schools.

• This must include and cover the fact that early career teachers will require additional time in their second year for professional development.

• These reforms must not negatively affect early career teacher pay.

• The early career framework reforms must be firmly and exclusively about an entitlement to additional support and training – it must not be, or appear to be, an additional burden or an assessment of early career teachers.

Today we are committing clearly to meet each of these – including to meet the significant investment needed to ensure the ECF delivers on its promise.

Delivering this transformation:

We will fully fund national roll-out of the early career reforms in September 2021, as our top priority to support early career retention and to support teacher quality.

By the time the new system is fully in place, we anticipate investing at least an additional £130 million every year to support ECF delivery in full. This will be a substantial investment, befitting the most significant change to the teaching profession since it became a graduate-only profession.

National roll-out will include:

• Funding and guaranteeing 5% off timetable in the second year of teaching for all early career teachers;
• Creating high quality, freely available curricula and training materials;
• Establishing full high quality ECF training programmes;
• Funding time for mentors to support early career teachers; and
• Fully funded mentor training.

Building to national roll-out in 2021

To ensure national roll-out is a success, we will work closely with teachers, headteachers, ITT and professional development providers, academics and the Chartered College of Teaching. The Education Endowment Foundation will continue to work with us to ensure that evidence underpins the reforms at every stage.

Once embedded, first and second year teachers, equating to roughly 50,000 teachers at any one time, will be receiving a package of structured support – each with a fully trained mentor to support their development. Never before has a programme of this size been delivered in schools.

As a result, we are embarking on an extensive period of trialling and development, weighting investment towards areas and schools serving disadvantaged communities – an approach we will continue into national roll-out:

• We have already announced a £12 million investment for an early roll-out of the ECF in September 2020 as part of Opportunity North East;
• We will now also extend the opportunity for early roll-out of ECF reforms to Bradford, Doncaster and Greater Manchester thanks to the £42 million Teacher Development Premium; and
• To ensure we can learn as much as possible in early roll-out, the Education Endowment Foundation are funding pilots from September 2019 to consider how to effectively train mentors to support early career teachers, which will be followed by further trialling to support national roll-out.

In itself, the early roll-out in 2020 will mean delivering a fully-funded, high quality package of support to almost 2,500 early career teachers across hundreds of schools. And the findings from all of this work will inform how the ECF reforms are implemented nationally – helping to ensure that we deliver fully on the promise of the framework.

The ECF reforms present an enormous opportunity to support teachers to access and apply the best available evidence at an essential point in their careers. By evaluating the roll-out of the programme, we will learn key lessons to ensure that every new teacher in England gets the support they need and deserve. The Education Endowment Foundation has played – and will continue to play – a key role in ensuring the ECF draws on the best available evidence.

(Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive, Education Endowment Foundation)

B. We will provide financial incentives to stay in teaching, not just to train

Currently, we spend around £250 million a year attracting high quality graduates and career changers into the profession with tax-free bursaries of up to £26,000 and other financial incentives. This is an important investment, which plays a key role in attracting more people into teaching. However, this money is too squarely focused on recruitment, rather than on recruitment and retention.

We know that there is growing evidence to support retention payments in the early years of a teacher’s career.^{[footnote 16]} And we are already taking steps to provide incentives to teachers at the times when they are most likely to be considering alternative careers – including the Teachers’ Student Loan Reimbursement scheme to pay back student loan repayments made by languages and science teachers working in challenging areas.

But we want to go further – adjusting our financial incentives to better balance the need to retain teachers as well as to recruit them.

Last year, we introduced the maths phased bursary. Rather than simply receiving an up-front bursary of £26,000, maths recruits now receive £20,000 tax-free in their training year, with additional £5,000 tax-free payments in both their third and fifth years of teaching – rising to £7,500 for teachers working in more challenging schools.

We will now reform bursaries more widely to follow this phased, retention payment approach. Once these reforms have taken place, we expect that around 40% of bursary spend in phased subjects will be on retention, marking a fundamental shift in bursary policy to support both recruitment and retention.

Importantly, in making this change, we will also ensure that retention payments for all phased bursaries are weighted such that they are higher for teachers working in more challenging schools. This will help to create a system that works to more naturally attract and retain good teachers in the schools that need them most (see chapter 3).

C. We will ensure early career teachers can access high quality curriculum plans and materials

Early career teachers are amongst the most likely to find their workloads unmanageable. Yet there is a widespread expectation on new teachers to create all of their own curriculum materials and lesson plans from scratch. In no other profession is there a cultural expectation for the most inexperienced professionals to ‘reinvent the wheel’.

Teachers at the start of their careers should benefit from the careful curriculum thought, and proven expertise, of leading teachers in the system. The Curriculum Fund – with an investment of £7.7 million – will fund a range of high quality curriculum programmes to be piloted and shared across a wide range of schools from this year. By making high quality curriculum resources available to early career teachers, we both expose them to good curriculum models that inform their future development, and make unmanageable workloads manageable.

This is intended to support a culture change in schools, setting an explicit expectation that early career teachers should not have to start from scratch every time they plan a lesson. Because curriculum planning is so important, it should be the responsibility of curriculum leaders – heads of department and other school leaders – to ensure high quality curriculum plans and materials are in place for early career teachers to use in their classrooms.

Of course, early career teachers may wish to work with experienced colleagues in their phase or department to tailor these high quality materials to suit their particular context. Then as teachers develop in their career, we would expect them to take greater responsibility for supporting the development of curriculum materials in their school.

Building on the ECF, we will invest in specialist national professional qualifications (NPQs) (see chapter 3) to support teachers to develop expertise in particular areas – such as curriculum development – once they have received their entitlement to a structured package of support at the start of their career. 

Chapter 3: Support a career offer that remains attractive to teachers as their careers and lives develop

Summary

A career in teaching does not always adapt to the expertise and lives of teachers. In this chapter we set out how we will build on the foundation of the Early Career Framework to support teachers – whatever their expertise or circumstances – to pursue the right career opportunities for them. In particular:

• We will develop specialist qualifications to support clearer non-leadership career pathways for teachers that want to stay and excel in the classroom;
• We will invest in these new and existing leadership qualifications, and will do so disproportionately in challenging schools - encouraging good teachers to work, stay and develop where the need is greatest; and
• We will support headteachers to adapt to changing demands by helping to transform approaches to flexible working in schools.

Key challenges

The Early Career Framework will help to create the foundation for a successful career in teaching. But to fully deliver on this promise, we cannot move what can sometimes feel like a cliff-edge at the end of ITT to a different one at the end of induction.

People entering and moving through the teaching profession should be able to identify and pursue clearer career pathways that meet their interests and expertise. This will of course continue to include traditional leadership routes, but it must also include the ability to develop in the specialisms and professional knowledge that flow directly from the core areas of practice covered by the ECF.

Crucially, if teaching is going to compete to attract and retain talented people in a 21st century labour market, it must also be a profession that goes further in embracing 21st century working practices. In particular, graduates entering the workforce today will expect opportunities for more flexible working patterns as a norm.

We must therefore address the following key challenges:

A. There are too few career progression opportunities for teachers who want to stay and specialise within the classroom

B. There are too few career incentives encouraging good teachers to work where they are needed most

C. Many teachers leave or choose not to return to teaching because they cannot access part-time or other flexible working opportunities

Addressing the key challenges

A. We will introduce specialist NPQs to support teachers to develop and progress their career without needing to pursue a traditional leadership route

We already have a suite of clear and prestigious leadership qualifications supporting teachers wishing to take the next step in their career towards school and trust leadership. These qualifications provide an established and ‘passportable’ marker of quality for middle leaders, senior leaders and headteachers moving between schools.

Over 10,000 people took a leadership NPQ last year and we will continue to support and improve these qualifications, including – importantly – by updating them to embed a direct link to the content and evidence set out in the ECF, so that this becomes a golden thread running from ITT through to senior leadership positions.

Specialist qualifications

However, many teachers wish to further their career without progressing into traditional school leadership roles. While there are emerging career pathways in MATs and teaching school alliances calling for expertise in important areas of practice such as teacher development and curriculum design, there are no corresponding professional qualifications.

We will therefore develop new specialist NPQs relating to these increasingly prevalent roles in the school system – working to support, for example, new roles in MATs rather than trying to impose a top-down reform.

Using the ECF as the foundation, we will develop specialist NPQs that flow directly from and extend expertise in the core areas in which teachers will receive training at the start of their career – assessment, behaviour management, subject and curriculum expertise, and pedagogy.

To directly support the roll-out of the ECF reforms, the first specialist qualification that we will develop will be a Teacher Developer NPQ, which will be explicitly tied to the content of the ECF.

This approach – combined with the increasingly important work of the Chartered College of Teaching – will enable more teachers to benefit from clearer and more coherent progression routes, linked to a consistent offer of structured, high-status professional qualifications.

To support this we will unlock the potential for significant investment in these career pathways by making it possible for schools to spend their apprenticeship levy to enable their staff to develop and take on these distinct roles. We will work with the Institute for Apprenticeships and the relevant employer groups to find the right solution for schools.

We also want a pay system that supports career progression. In order to help us achieve this goal, we are planning a comprehensive review of the pay framework to support more flexible and rewarding career pathways for teachers, creating a more attractive offer for teachers at all career stages. We will be asking the School Teachers’ Review Body for recommendations on how to achieve this, with a view to implementing any reforms in 2020.

And in order to ensure that all teachers are supported to benefit from the opportunities for career progression, these reforms will sit alongside our significant broader efforts to improve diversity and create opportunities for all teachers. This is in line with our recent statement of intent on the diversity of the teaching workforce^{[footnote 17]}, published in partnership with a range of sector organisations and the £2 million we are investing over the next two years to establish school-led equality and diversity hubs.

B. We will invest in creating the strongest development and progression opportunities for teachers working in the schools and areas that need them most

The biggest factor in improving outcomes at school is the quality of teaching – and high quality teaching has the biggest impact for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Already, many of the best teachers in the system are working to improve the life chances of the most disadvantaged pupils – drawn by the moral purpose that drives every teacher.

Within MATs, we know that teachers moving between schools within the trust are likely to move towards those with more disadvantaged intakes, bucking the trend in the wider system.^{[footnote 18]} Yet there are too few incentives that systematically encourage good teachers to take up this challenge.

A desire to shift these incentives sits at the very heart of this strategy, from the plan to create weighted retention payments for those working in more challenging schools (chapter 2), to specific efforts to ensure that more good teachers are working in more challenging schools after completing their training (chapter 4).

Having a coherent, recognisable suite of professional qualifications – linked to career pathways – will provide the potential for strategic investment at each stage to create enhanced development and progression opportunities in schools serving disadvantaged communities.

We are already taking action to support this:

• We are investing £20 million in scholarships to drive take-up of the reformed leadership NPQs in the most challenging areas – doubling our initial intended investment; and

• The £42 million Teacher Development Premium will fund take-up of both leadership NPQs and the first specialist NPQs to complement early roll-out of the ECF in the North East, Bradford, Doncaster and Greater Manchester.

We will embed and strengthen this approach and extend it to the full range of qualifications set out in Figure 3. This will have a dual benefit:

• It will directly support these more challenging schools by investing in teachers already working there – the most effective form of school improvement; and

• It will signal to good teachers that the strongest opportunities for career progression and professional development exist when working with the children that can benefit the most.

This creates a real opportunity to reshape the underlying incentives and create a structure that can be invested in consistently over time – a more sustainable approach than eye-catching schemes based on one-off payments or other short-term benefits. And in doing so, we will seek to create a system that more naturally attracts good experienced teachers to work and stay in the schools that need them most.

C. We will support schools to implement flexible working

The next generation will expect flexible working as the norm. This is, ultimately, an issue that only school leaders can and must address. Put simply – if we don’t, it is our schools that will suffer.

(Geoff Barton, General Secretary, ASCL; Emma Knights, Chief Executive, National Governance Association; Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, NAHT)

With the changing demands of workers in our 21st century economy, it is more important than ever that teaching is compatible with having children and family life. An increasing proportion of teachers are working part-time, but the proportion of men in teaching doing so in 2017 was 8%, compared with an average for all UK employees of 12%, and the proportion of women doing so was 28%, compared with 40%.^{[footnote 19]}

Many teachers leave or choose not to return to teaching because they cannot access part-time or other flexible working opportunities. Among secondary school teachers who leave the profession, the proportion working part-time increases by 20 percentage points when taking up a new job.^{[footnote 20]}

Besides part-time working, there is demand for other types of flexible working, including the opportunity to leave the school site if not teaching. Implemented successfully, flexible working should attract more people to join teaching, keep more people in teaching, and encourage more to return.

But creating a culture that promotes flexible working ultimately comes down to headteachers – they are the ones who can ensure these opportunities become the norm in teaching. We will take steps to support this, by:

• Creating a new high-profile “find your jobshare” website that will support teachers who are looking for jobshare partners; and
• Launching a competition for EdTech providers to create innovative solutions to promote and facilitate part-time and flexible working patterns, including time-tabling tools

We will complement this with wider best practice resources and further research to support implementation of flexible working.

We also want to support teachers to take advantage of opportunities to experience working in an industry relevant to their field or doing academic research. We have been working with the sector and potential delivery partners to develop a sabbatical pilot for more established teachers. We are committed to working with teachers and headteachers to deliver an effective pilot.  

Chapter 4: make it easier for great people to become teachers

Summary

The process to become a teacher is too complicated and burdensome. We will radically simplify the process for becoming a teacher, introducing new digital systems designed to make application much easier and more user-friendly. In particular:

• We will introduce a new one-stop application service for ITT, which will be easier to use and designed to better meet the needs of potential trainees; and
• We will review the ITT market to support it to work more efficiently and effectively

Key challenges

Teaching is a career with prestige and moral purpose. Many people dream of becoming a teacher from early on in life. For some it is a career that they fall in love with much later. Whenever that lightbulb moment occurs, we want to give as many people the opportunity to experience what makes teaching unique: the opportunity to change lives every single day.

Every year, we aim to recruit over 30,000 people to begin their journey to become a teacher. And in doing so, we make a major investment – around £250 million a year is invested in tax-free bursaries of up to £26,000 and other financial incentives to attract applicants (see chapter 2).

We have outlined how we will support headteachers to retain more staff. However, there is also more to do to ensure we create a recruitment system fit for the 21st century.

To improve the system we must address the following key challenges:

A. Despite high interest in joining the profession, not enough people progress to making an application;

B. The application process makes it too difficult to join the profession, particularly for career changers; and

C. The ITT market is overly complex, causing inefficiencies and incentives that can prevent good teachers from working where they are needed most post-ITT.

Addressing the key challenges

A. We will encourage and enable more potential teachers to try teaching – highlighting the uniquely rewarding aspects of a career in teaching

In a recent survey, 90% of students and recent graduates saw teaching as a fulfilling career. We must convert the high regard for teaching into concrete applications.^{[footnote 21]}

The first step on the journey to becoming a teacher is being inspired by the great teachers in this country. Our latest campaign “Every Lesson Shapes a Life” highlights how teachers change and shape the lives of their pupils each and every day.

But we are determined to do more. We want many more potential teachers to experience teaching for themselves – to spark interest in the profession and help convert this interest into applications.

We will therefore launch a new Discover Teaching initiative, building on the success of ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ – giving as many people as possible the opportunity to experience the unique opportunities that a career in teaching provides. Last year, 13,000 people experienced life in the classroom through DfE programmes. We want to build on this and go much further.

Discover Teaching will provide a new breadth of opportunities for people to experience teaching, including a new virtual reality classroom, expanding the Teaching Internship Programme and increasing school taster days where there is capacity.

B. We will design new digital systems to make it simple and easy to become a teacher

A career in teaching is uniquely rewarding and meaningful – and so we must make it as simple and easy as possible for people to apply. However, we know that the current process for becoming a teacher can be overly complicated and off-putting for candidates.

Improving the recruitment pipeline

Too many potentially great teachers are put off from pursuing a career in teaching before their training begins; in 2017/18 over 150,000 people registered on the Get Into Teaching website, but only 45,000 people applied for mainstream postgraduate teacher training.^{[footnote 22]}

Once someone makes the positive decision to become a teacher, we are determined to make the process as straightforward as possible. In the current system, applicants have to work through 3 separate systems to register interest, find and apply for a course. At each stage, we see potentially great teachers – put off by these cumbersome systems – opting to pursue alternative careers.

That is why we will use digital technologies to bring the application process into the 21st century, improving the applicant experience at every stage of the journey to becoming a teacher:

• The new Find Teacher Training service – launched in October 2018 – enables applicants to search for ITT courses that are right for them. For the first time, applicants can filter courses by proximity to their home address or by the financial support available; and
• We will design a new, easy-to-use one-stop application system to work seamlessly with our Get Into Teaching website and the new Find service. This will radically simplify the process of applying to be a teacher, making it quicker and allowing greater flexibility for applicants.

And to make sure that we don’t lose out on high quality candidates, we are now also taking steps to provide personalised support to help individual applicants at each crucial stage in the user journey:

• We have recruited experienced teachers and headteachers to provide bespoke support and advice to applicants all the way through their application. These teacher training advisers (TTAs) have already helped over 9,000 people in this recruitment cycle; and
• We have invested in a state of the art customer relationship management system, providing personalised advice and support to all applicants.

We will continue to extend this personalised support – including exploring how trainees and early career teachers could benefit from TTA support.

Putting applicant needs at the centre of recruitment

With a need for ever greater numbers of teachers, we must do more to ensure good applicants do not go without an offer. Yet many providers reject large numbers of candidates in shortage subjects, many of whom are later accepted by other institutions.

Ofsted have already made changes to the framework to encourage providers to offer places to all candidates who are ready to train to teach. We will work with Ofsted to ensure that the new inspection framework contains no potential disincentives and we will continue to monitor ITT provider acceptance rates, so that applicants receive the offers they deserve.

We estimate around half of entrants to postgraduate ITT come from career changers – with many providers making a significant contribution in this space. However, entry to the profession too often feels as though it is designed solely for recent graduates. That is why we are investing over £6 million on a range of initiatives to attract the up to 1.1 million people over the age of 25 who would consider teaching, ^{[footnote 23]} including:

• Supporting Teach First to develop a bespoke route for career changers; and
• Expanding the reach of Now Teach to new areas and supporting a new Transition to Teach initiative.

We are also working with ITT providers to increase part-time ITT to complement our wider work to increase part-time working in schools.

We know that there is a significant pool of potential teachers willing to move to England. In line with the government’s white paper on the future skills-based immigration system we will focus on the very highly skilled and those migrants who bring the most benefit to the UK. The government remains committed to reducing net migration to sustainable levels. The Home Secretary has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to review the Shortage Occupation List. This will now include consideration of whether there is a case for extending the teacher occupations that are on the Shortage Occupation List beyond maths, physics, general science, computing and Mandarin. Where suitably skilled teachers are not available domestically, we will explore opportunities to develop new and existing partnerships, focusing particularly on language teachers.

We also want to provide a pathway for teaching assistants to study part-time for a BEd, BA or BSc degree with qualified teacher status (QTS), whilst continuing to work. We will work closely with universities and schools to explore how they can support more teaching assistants to choose to teach.

C. We will simplify and protect the vibrant ITT market and ensure it supports more schools in challenging areas

Often working in partnership with universities, school-based ITT has added vibrancy and diversity to the market, with leading MATs and teaching school alliances now running many of the most prestigious ITT programmes.

We want to strengthen and support a mix of provision led by both universities and schools, by:

• Supporting new entrants to the market where they have a compelling plan for growth;
• Expanding and developing more provision for undergraduate ITT; and
• Continuing with unlimited ITT recruitment to all postgraduate primary and secondary ITT courses (with the exception of PE fee-funded courses) for the next 2 recruitment cycles (ITT 2020 and ITT 2021) to offer all providers maximum flexibility to recruit.

However, with over 1,000 organisations delivering ITT – often replicating similar processes – there is scope for building a more efficient and effective system. Recruitment processes cost some small providers a significant proportion of their funding, resulting in fewer good applicants being invited to interview and – consequently – fewer trainees recruited.

Similarly, whilst we are determined that trainees learn their craft in strong schools best-equipped to ensure they succeed, we want to ensure the right incentives exist to support strong trainees to work where they are needed most following high quality training.

We will review the ITT market, identifying improvements that reduce costs for providers and exploring how we can encourage high quality providers – including in high-performing MATs – to extend their reach, deliver at scale and do more to support the wider system.

We want to harness the expertise and experience of Teach First – particularly in working with schools in challenging areas – and spread that more widely within the system. That is why we will also explore how we can support Teach First to gain QTS recommending power, alongside their current work with universities, encouraging them to work with small school-based providers.

Our Innovation Pilot partners, Sheffield Hallam University, Canterbury Christ Church University and West Yorkshire SCITTs, are already exploring how to grow bigger local partnerships – with a particular focus on how to support the best teachers to continue their career in the schools that need them most. We will build on and learn from these pilots as part of our review.

Conclusion

Taken together, the four priorities set out in this strategy outline the government’s key areas of focus, reform and investment to make sure a career in teaching continues to be attractive, sustainable and rewarding.

Over the coming months we’ll continue our conversation with the sector by holding roadshows across the country to seek further views on our plans, and to identify how we can work together to deliver on the ambition set out in this strategy. We must now work together to make our shared vision a reality and ensure that every teacher, at every stage of their career, is supported and encouraged to not just to stay in teaching, but to thrive.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who have helped shape this strategy. This includes the hundreds of teachers, former teachers and school leaders who have attended our events, and those who have given up their time to take part in interviews, as well as the members of our two formal advisory groups listed below. We would also like to thank the following organisations for their helpful insights: Chartered College of Teaching; Confederation of School Trusts; Education Endowment Foundation; National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers; National Governance Association; Ofsted; Teaching Schools Council; and Universities Council for the Education of Teachers. We are very grateful to everyone for their time, expertise, commitment, and thoughtful support and challenge.

Teaching Union Advisory Group

• Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
• NASUWT, the Teachers’ Union
• National Association of Headteachers (NAHT)
• National Education Union (NEU)
• Voice

Expert Advisory Group

• Rebecca Boomer-Clark, Director of Secondary, Ark
• Jon Coles, Chief Executive Officer, United Learning
• Jo Heaton, Executive Headteacher, St. Peter’s Elwick Church of England and Hart Primary School
• Russell Hobby, Chief Executive Officer, Teach First
• Matt Hood, Chief Education Officer, Institute for Teaching and Ambition School Leadership
• Vijita Patel, Principal, Swiss Cottage School and Development & Research Centre
• Lesley Powell, Executive Principal, The Academy at Shotton Hall and Chief Executive Officer, North East Learning Trust
• Dr. Jeffery Quaye, Director of Standards and Effectiveness, Aspirations Academies Trust
• Maura Regan, Principal, Carmel College and Chief Executive Officer, Carmel Education Trust
• Professor Samantha Twiselton, Director of Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University

References

1. This strategy is specifically about teachers working in schools. We will consider whether any initiatives will be extended to other phases. ↩

2. Department for Education (2018), National pupil projections – future trends in pupil numbers: July 2018. ↩

3. Sims, S. (2017) What happens when you pay shortage-subject teachers more money? Simulating the effect of early-career salary supplements on teacher supply in England. ↩

4. Department for Education (2018), School workforce in England: November 2017, Table 7b ↩

5. Department for Education (2018), School workforce in England: November 2017. Figure for 2-year retention based on cohort beginning teaching in 2015, not shown in Figure 2. ↩

6. Department for Education (2018), School workforce in England: November 2017, Table 8. Full and part-time teachers by year of gaining qualified teacher status, who were in service the following year and the percentage not recorded as in service in state funded schools up to 5 years later. ↩

7. Department for Education (2016), Schools workforce in England 2010 to 2015: trends and geographical comparisons; Sibieta, L. (2018), The teacher labour market in England: shortages, subject expertise and incentives. ↩

8. Sibieta, L. (2018) The teacher labour market in England: shortages, subject expertise and incentives. ↩

9. Sims, S. (2017), TALIS 2013: Working Conditions, Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention. ↩

10. Micklewright, J., Jerrim, J., Vignoles, A., Jenkins, A., Allen, R., Ilie, S., Bellarbre, E., Barrera, F. and Hein, C. (2014), Teachers in England’s Secondary Schools: Evidence from TALIS 2013; Higton, J., Leonardi, S., Richards, N., Choudhoury, A., Sofroniou, N. and Owen, D. (2017), Teacher Workload Survey 2016. ↩

11. Worth, J., Bamford, S. and Durbin, B. (2015), Should I stay or should I go? NFER analysis of teachers joining and leaving the profession. ↩

12. Department for Education (2018), School workforce in England: November 2017; Office for National Statistics (2018), EMP01 NSA: Full-time, part-time and temporary workers (not seasonally adjusted), released December 2018 (figures refer to employees only, Oct-Dec 2017). ↩

13. Barmby, P. W. (2006), ‘Improving teacher recruitment and retention: the importance of workload and pupil behaviour’, Educational research, 48(3) pp. 247-265; Department for Education (2017), Analysis of school and teacher level factors relating to teacher supply. ↩

14. Department for Education (2019), Funding increases to teachers’ pensions employer contributions. 15 January 2019. ↩

15. Department for Education (2018), New funding to support children with special educational needs. 16 December 2018. ↩

16. Sims, S. (2018), What happens when you pay shortage-subject teachers more money? Simulating the effect of early-career salary supplements on teacher supply in England. ↩

17. Department for Education (2018), Diversity of the teaching workforce: statement of intent. 11 October 2018. ↩

18. Worth, J. (2017), Teacher Retention and Turnover Research - Research Update 2: Teacher Dynamics in Multi-Academy Trusts ↩

19. Department for Education (2018), School workforce in England: November 2017; Office for National Statistics (2018), EMP01 NSA: Full-time, part-time and temporary workers (not seasonally adjusted), released December 2018, figures refer to Oct-Dec 2017. ↩

20. Worth, J., Lynch, S., Hillary, J., Rennie, C. and Andrade, J. (2018), Teacher Workforce Dynamics in England ↩

21. Department for Education, (2017), Censuswide survey on behalf of Get Into Teaching. ↩

22. Source for applications data: UCAS (2018), ITT monthly statistics: applicants, ‘UCAS Teacher Training applicants at Monday 17 September 2018’. ↩

23. YouGov Analysis of the market size and profile of career changers for Teach First, cited in Teach First (2018), Britain at a crossroads: what will it take to provide the teachers our children need? ↩