EC Meeting Papers March 2018

3. Establish short and medium term plans to raise the salaries of teachers: The fact that teachers’ pay was frozen and has been subject to the public sector pay cap has meant that it has fallen significantly behind pay for other graduate professions. Acknowledging “high workload” and “strict accountability” the STRB last year described pay as an important factor in the recruitment and retention crisis which “presents a substantial risk to the functioning of an effective education system”. There needs to be actions taken to ensure that teachers’ pay is brought back to a level that is at least in line with other similar professions. 4. Review and revise the accountability systems and their impact on schools, teachers and school leaders: The accountability measures and their outcomes have an impact on teacher workload and stress. A major review of the effectiveness of accountability systems is urgently required, which to meet successive manifesto commitments must include consideration of reducing the burdens of Ofsted inspections. 5. Develop a career strategy for teaching from pre-entry to leadership: Knowing the potential routes through teaching as a career we see as a help to both recruitment and retention. We recognise that this is a job for the profession as well as government and building on the recent consultation on ‘Strengthening Qualified Teacher Status and improving career progression for teachers’ we are keen to work with the Department and other organisations on this. 6. Urgently review and revise the teacher supply model and the allocation of initial teacher training places: It is our view that the current model is not indicating sufficient initial teacher training places to meet need, nor is it addressing the issue of replacing non-specialist teachers with subject specialists. A rapid review and revision is required. 7. Ensure that there is full geographical coverage of initial teacher training provision in all parts of the country: As many newly qualified teachers remain in the area close to where they initially train it is important that all areas of the country are covered by high quality initial training provision. This needs mapping out and appropriate actions taken. 8. Review and revise the financial support packages for initial teacher training and loan reimbursement: We have been promoting the idea of loan repayment for teachers for some time and welcomed the pilot scheme. Stronger evidence needs to be shared and discussed with regard to the effectiveness of the bursary scheme. Evaluation of both schemes is required at the earliest opportunity, supported by discussion of how to ensure they are most effective, with wide impact. 9. Take forward the recently started work on flexible working: The recent seminar arranged by your predecessor and jointly chaired by Vicky Beer and Geoff Barton initiated this work and we believe that a work plan, including a timescale, should be developed and implemented to take this valuable strand forward. 10. Develop national programmes to recruit returners, career changers and teachers from overseas: We note the department is interested in how to bring qualified teachers back to classrooms; action on workload, funding, pay and accountability as well as refresher training would be a welcome signal. The scheme that has just been announced to recruit some teachers from overseas needs to be set at an appropriate scale to help meet the current shortfall and include consideration of any