Teachers are quitting the profession (Image: PA)

       The Government “still does not have a grip” on how it will provide the teachers “urgently needed” in secondary schools, and warned that poor pupil behaviour was causing teachers to quit the profession. Labour has no idea how it will keep its pledge to recruit 6,500 additional teachers despite making it a key plank of last year’s general election manifesto, an inquiry found.

       MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee questioned senior officials from the Department for Education but concluded in a report today: “It is unclear how the Department will deliver the pledge for 6,500 additional teachers, measure its progress, or what achieving the pledge will mean for existing and forecast teacher shortages”. This is despite the Government allocating ￡700 million to spend in teacher recruitment and retention.

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       Teachers are leaving the profession partly because of poor classroom behaviour and the proportion of ex-teachers citing this as a reason rose from 32% to 44% between 2023 and 2024. However the top concern is the huge workload teachers are expected to take on.

       The shortfall, which particularly affects specialist subjects such as computer science, means some pupils are simply not being given the option of taking specific courses - which means they are “at risk of being locked out of particular careers” in later life. Lower-income neighbourhoods have the biggest shortages, and 31% of schools in the most disadvantaged areas do not offer Computer Science A-level compared to 11% in the least disadvantaged areas.

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       MPs said the Department for Education recognises the problems but does not know what is causing them, including why workload is so high. They called on the government to consider changing teachers’ contracts, including potentially introducing more flexible working.

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       Committee member Sarah Olney said: “Teachers up and down the country deserve our heartfelt thanks for the job they do. Our report is the latest confirmation that this job is increasingly done in difficult circumstances, with workload burdens and challenging pupil behaviour some of the key drivers of teachers leaving the profession.

       “The Department for Education told us that teaching quality makes more of a difference than teacher quantity. As reassuring arguments go, this seems difficult to believe when faced with the absence of any kind of teaching at all in certain subjects, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas.”

       The Committee is chaired by Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown and nine of the 16 members are Labour MPs.

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       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.

       Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “We share the concerns about the lack of clarity over the government’s pledge to deliver 6,500 new teachers. This does not seem anything like enough to address future need and we would urge ministers to address actual teacher shortages rather than fixate on a figure which is largely meaningless.”

       He added: “The impact of national teacher shortages is often most damaging in schools and colleges serving disadvantaged communities where recruitment and retention can be particularly hard.

       “This is exactly where we most need a ready supply of teachers and leaders and the fact this is difficult to secure is a major obstacle in narrowing attainment gaps.

       “The rising number of teachers leaving the profession because of pupil behaviour is also a major cause of concern.

       “We hear from school and college leaders on a regular basis over just how challenging this issue has become in recent years.

       “Behaviour policies are robust but there must be wider action to provide schools and colleges with specialist support and investment to address the variety as well as the complexity of needs that children and young people are exhibiting.”

       Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), said: “It is critical that the Government takes action now and delivers a comprehensive plan to tackle the issues that are impacting recruitment and retention or it will miss its 6,500 teacher recruitment pledge.

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       “Schools are anxious to see the details of the Government’s plan for supporting teacher supply.”

       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.”