Responding to the NAO’s report on the teacher workforce, EPI’s Director for School Workforce, James Zuccollo, said:
“The NAO’s report highlights significant shortcomings in the DfE’s six-year-old teacher recruitment and retention strategy. Despite its ambition to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers, this target is both insufficient to address the current shortfall and unlikely to be met at the current pace. Teachers’ pay remains 10 percent lower than in 2010, and the proposed 4 percent pay increase will do little to resolve this issue. To make teaching a more attractive profession for both current educators and young graduates, we need more innovative and creative solutions. However, recent decisions to ban flexible pension schemes and restrict academy freedoms risk hindering progress. Without a change in direction, schools in England will continue to face challenges in recruiting and retaining the exceptional teachers our pupils deserve.”
