The main government pledge to appoint 6,500 extra teachers to the UK by the end of this parliament is likely to be difficult to achieve and lack of demand, the UK’s public spending watchdog warns.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s promise to recruit thousands of extra teachers at state schools is funded by adding VAT to private school fees, forming one of the foundations of government education policies.
However, a National Audit Bureau (NAO) report released Wednesday warned that expected increases in secondary school pupils could surpass worker recruitment ambitions and prevent teacher vacancy from filling.
The report states that further education (FE) universities, which have been particularly affected by the long-standing recruitment and retention crisis, will need only up to 12,400 teachers by 2028-29, and only 12,400 more teachers.
Meanwhile, the number of newly qualified teachers started at state university schools between 2023 and 2024 has dropped to 8,700. This is the lowest number since 2010 – 2011. The Ministry of Education (DFE) missed its recruitment goal for secondary teacher training for everyone except one in the past decade.
With the number of secondary school students peaking in 2028 and putting even more pressure on the system, NAO called on the government to publish its delivery plans and outlined how to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers within the time limit. He also urged the Minister to “assess the degree to which further education workforce models are suitable for their purposes.”
“We’re a great opportunity to see the public accounts,” said Jeffrey Clifton Brown, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. “The DFE rated it being extremely difficult to fulfill the government’s pledge to 6,500 teachers.
“We need a new cross-sector approach to recruit and maintain sufficient quality teachers. Otherwise, workforce challenges will continue to pose a real threat to the education and life outlook of young people.”
“We’re excited to be able to help you get the better of our customers,” said Gareth Davies, NAO Head. “Despite government pledges, secondary schools and further universities of education are facing challenges in ensuring sufficient teachers to support the rise in student numbers.”
Jack Worth, who leads the National Foundation for Educational Research’s school workforce, said the report sent a clear message to the government that if they don’t take action, they would now miss the pledge to recruit 6,500 teachers.
“The undeferred vacancy level is the highest rate since the record began in 2010, from the stress from dealing with pay, student behavior and workload pressure reportedly contributing to teachers leaving the profession,” he added.
“We urgently need a properly funded salary increase, including reducing workloads and flexible work to improve both recruitment and retention,” the Treasury has already said that pay rises must come from existing budgets.
In response to the NAO report, Philipson reiterated the government’s commitment to recruiting another 6,500 teachers. “We’ve already seen the green shoot, and this year we have 2,000 secondary school teachers training, and there’s still a lot to do with the numbers increasing to start training in short-stem subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
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“As hundreds of millions of pounds have been invested to help with the trend following last year’s 5.5% salary prize, we are determined to restore education as an attractive and authoritative profession.”
Meanwhile, individual studies on teacher recruitment argue that men “face discrimination” when applying for roles in the UK school workforce, particularly for entry-level jobs such as assistant roles.
A Warwick Business School study asked 600 teachers to rate fictional CVS, with men ratings 1.2 percentage points lower than women on average and 1.8 percentage points lower in teacher assistant role applications.
“There is growing concern about the shortage of male teachers, especially about acting as role models for boys,” said Dr. Joshua Fuller, assistant professor at the school. “However, our research shows that despite this concern, men still face bias during the employment process.
Professor Stephen Gollard, director of the Center for Educational Evidence Education at Durham University, was not involved in the study. “This is a useful finding that shows minor bias against male applicants. However, since it was conducted as a simulation, it may not be the case in the actual application process.”