The Recruitment and Retention of Teachers in England

Abstract

This chapter outlines the extent of the current teacher recruitment and retention crisis in England, explains the underlying reasons for that crisis and describes some of the measures that are being taken to address it. The focus of the chapter is on the recruitment of students to accredited programmes of initial teacher education (ITE) – also referred to as initial teacher training (ITT) – which lead to the award of Qualified Teacher Status for teaching in schools. The recruitment of teachers to other parts of the education system are not covered, as the contexts and regulatory mechanisms vary significantly. The chapter explains the current context by using data on the recruitment and retention of student teachers and the number of pupils in England’s schools, describes and analyses the way in which teacher education is structured and organised in England and how it has developed in recent years. It describes and critiques the financial and other incentives the government has used to attract and retain new teachers, and it identifies the demographic and policy reasons why teachers are in such short supply. The content of the chapter reflects the author’s perspective as Executive Director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), the membership body for universities in the UK involved in teacher education and education research.