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Teacher recruitment: Crisis? What crisis?

After Nicky Morgan’s plea to stop using ‘crisis’ to describe teacher recruitment, Malcolm Trobe says she will only achieve this with action

We hear your concerns over teacher shortages and we need your help. That was the message of education secretary Nicky Morgan in her speech to ASCL’s annual conference.

ASCL has been raising concerns over the teacher supply situation for a considerable period of time, so the secretary of state’s recognition of these difficulties was good to hear. However, her appeal for help was a little more problematic.

By all means, she said, lobby the government on what more can be done to improve recruitment and retention. “But let’s not inadvertently create a vicious cycle where talk of a crisis actively puts people off entering the profession,” she said. “Let’s focus on communicating to the outside world what a great profession teaching is, how rewarding it can be, and what good teachers have the power to do.”

We agree that everybody involved in education has a responsibility to promote the many good things about teaching and the education system in general. It is, however, difficult to avoid the word “crisis” for a situation which fits that billing.

The teacher supply issue is having an enormous impact on schools across the country and is jeopardising the progress which has been made in raising standards. We should be wary of being seen to be in denial. Let’s not forget that it was the headline “Crisis? What crisis?” that helped to bring down the Labour government in 1979.

What we can and must do to help, however, is to come up with solutions rather than simply bemoan the situation. The government, to its credit, has taken an important step forward with the announcement of a programme to promote flexible working opportunities to encourage more women to stay in the profession. This follows a joint paper by ASCL and Policy Exchange which highlighted the fact that thousands of women do not return to the profession after having children. This move will help but not fully address a situation which needs a multiple-strand strategic approach.

In addition to retaining people in teaching, it is ASCL’s view that more needs to be done to recruit them in the first place. So, we are putting forward what we believe is a constructive and realistic proposal to help achieve that goal.

Our suggestion is that the government should undertake to ease the burden of tuition fee loans on those who choose to become teachers. For instance, repayments could be frozen for new teachers and written off entirely for those who stay in the profession in this country for at least 10 years.

As well as incentivising teaching, this proposal would also help to address the teacher “brain drain” overseas which was recently highlighted by Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. It would aid both recruitment and retention.

People do not go into teaching for the money. They normally choose to do so because they see it as a vocation. Equally, however, it is difficult to attract the brightest and best graduates when there are other fulfilling opportunities in the jobs market which are much better rewarded. This is particularly true in the case of maths and science where the biggest recruitment difficulties exist.

Teaching cannot hope to compete with these salary levels, but freezing repayments and eventually writing off student loans would serve as a major incentive which may alter the balance for many of those considering a teaching career.

So, yes, let’s join together in promoting the many positives about teaching as a varied, interesting and fulfilling career. However, this alone is not enough and practical action is also needed to address the situation. Writing off student loans is just one idea. There is much else we can do to come up with imaginative solutions. If we take action now there may soon be no need for anyone to use the word “crisis”.

  • Malcolm Trobe is the interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. Visit www.ascl.org.uk