Labour’s pledge to recruit 6,500 teachers 'unclear' amid shortage crisis

During the election campaign, Labour pledged to recruit an additional 6,500 new teachers over the course of its five-year parliamentary term.

However, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the Government “lacks a coherent plan”, suitable targets and sufficient evidence of what works to improve teacher recruitment and retention.

The report, from a cross-party group of MPs, added the Department for Education (DfE) should look at changes to contractual and working conditions – such as flexible working - and it is “unclear” how meeting this pledge will ensure there are enough teachers in the right areas.

It also said that the DfE should assess pay against other recruitment and retention initiatives to make a decision on whether it needs to do more to ensure teachers are paid the right amount.

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The PAC said: “It is worrying the Department does not have a clear baseline or milestones against which to measure progress and be held accountable over the coming years.”

The DfE gave “no clear explanation” of how the pledge was calculated or how it will fill gaps, with an estimated need of up to 12,400 more teachers in colleges alone by 2028/29, it added.

The report said workload is cited as the top reason for teachers leaving their jobs, and pupil behaviour is “an escalating challenge” which school staff face.

The MPs have called on the DfE to collect data on the effectiveness of its behaviour hubs, and to roll them out further if they prove to be successful.

The PAC report found that teacher vacancies and the challenges of retaining experienced teachers are “greater for schools in deprived areas”.

Around a third (34%) of teachers in the most disadvantaged schools had less than five years of experience, compared to 20% in the least disadvantaged schools, it highlighted.

These schools also suffer teacher shortages in specialist subjects, such as in computing, and the report warned that disadvantaged students are “at risk of being locked out of particular careers” due to a lack of trained teachers.

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney, a member of the PAC, said: “The shortfalls laid out in our report show how urgent it is that DfE lay out the detail behind its pledge for 6,500 more teachers.

“The Committee is calling for the Government to take a serious look at working conditions, flexible arrangements and increased pay for teachers.

“It is important to stress that this Committee’s role is not to make recommendations on policy – our report makes clear that Government should be exploring conditions and pay as value for money measures alongside the other recruitment and retention initiatives it is carrying out.”

In May, the Government announced a 4% pay increase for school teachers and school leaders in England from September.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said schools would receive an additional £615 million of funding this financial year to help with the costs, but schools would have to find around 1% of the pay awards themselves.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said Labour’s manifesto pledge to hire more teachers had descended into “chaos”.

She said: “They promised that taxing education would pay for new staff, yet that money is now being diverted to house illegal immigrants.

"Their first milestone for school readiness was hiring 6,500 new teachers, but instead there are 400 fewer."

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This Government is already delivering on our pledge to recruit and retain 6,500 more talented teachers with 2,300 more secondary and special schoolteachers in classrooms this year, as well as 1,300 fewer teachers leaving the profession – one of the lowest leave rates since 2010.

“Since day one, the Education Secretary has worked to reset the relationship with the education sector, announcing pay awards of almost 10% over two years and committed to tackle high workload and poor wellbeing including encouraging schools to offer more flexible working opportunities."