The government has finally committed to publishing the full details of how it will deliver on its pledge for 6,500 more teachers – a year and a half after being elected.
The House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) said in June that it remained “unclear” how the Department for Education would honour its pledge or measure its progress, or the impact this would have on resolving workforce shortages.
Now, in its response to the report, the government has said that the DfE will publish a full delivery plan by December.
“This will include: the definition of the pledge, how the department will track progress over the duration of this Parliament, progress to date, and the levers it will use to deliver the pledge (including how it will focus on both recruitment and retention).”
The response adds that the DfE has “made strong initial progress” on recruitment. The workforce grew by 2,346 full-time employees between 2023-24 and 2024-25 in secondary and special schools – schools “where they are needed most”.
The government said it is seeing “positive signs” that the 5.5 per cent and 4 per cent pay rises over the past two years are “starting to deliver”.
The DfE has come under repeated criticism for failing to publish details of the pledge, which formed a part of Labour’s 2024 election manifesto. It initially promised 6,500 “expert teachers in key subjects” as one of its six “first steps for change”.
Over the summer, the government revealed that primary teachers would not be included in the targets. Schools Week then revealed that not all of the teachers will be “new”.
Instead, the target will reflect how much the workforce has grown overall – meaning it will include increases in retention rates.
The government said it agrees with all six of the PAC’s recommendations and is providing implementation dates for them. Among the recommendations was for the DfE to work with schools to understand why those in deprived areas have bigger workforce challenges.
The government said it will “continue to invest in evaluation and understanding of the workforce” and set an implementation date of August next year.
The PAC report also recommended that the DfE develops a “whole-system strategy” for recruitment and retention, saying it had “no clear or coherent approach bringing together its various initiatives” for the two.
The government responded that it is now investing in analysing policies to understand their impact, and “continues to review the balance between recruitment and retention”.
Another recommendation was for the DfE to “work to better understand why teachers leave” and better support schools in addressing these factors.
The schools white paper and the 6,500 teacher plan will provide the detail on this.
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