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JOINT SUBMISSION TO THE STRB 2001

Introduction

1.1This joint submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is made by the five organisations representing the overwhelming majority of teachers in England and Wales. It covers the issues of teacher supply, teachers’ salaries and teachers’ conditions of service.

1.2The identification of serious problems of teacher supply has been a consistent theme of submissions made jointly and separately by our organisations over a number of years. We intend to demonstrate in this submission that these problems have not been solved and in many respects grow ever more serious.

1.3The problems of teacher supply have an adverse impact on the provision of a first class education service. It remains our view that these problems are

caused by the poor position of teachers relative to other graduate professionals in terms of salaries, career progression and conditions of service. From this, it follows that urgent action to improve teachers’ relative position with regard to salaries and conditions of service is essential in order to achieve the high quality education service which is a common goal of the profession and the Government.

1.4In the past, both the STRB and the Government have resisted the changes which are necessary. They have often done so by denying the existence of problems, or by seeking to minimise their significance. On the basis of objective evidence, this submission will demonstrate that those problems exist, show how they affect the delivery of the education service and set out effective solutions.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

2Recruitment to Initial Teacher Training (ITT)

2.1Throughout the 1990s there were evident problems with regard to the recruitment of trainee teachers to ITT courses, particularly with regard to secondary ITT courses. The evidence shows that such problems are continuing into the new century, with recruitment to primary ITT courses also affected.

2.2The continuation of such problems would be a disaster for the profession, because of the requirement to compensate for years of under-recruitment to teaching as well as to meet current targets for recruitment.

2.3ITT courses are the foundation of teacher recruitment. The focus of the STRB and the Government on issues such as the school-based graduate teacher programme and the attempt to attract former teachers back into the profession should not detract from this central fact.

2.4The STRB noted in its 2001 Report that teaching needs to attract a high proportion of new graduates each year in order to meet the recruitment targets for the profession. The latest evidence shows that it is failing to do so.

2.5The latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) set out the picture as at May 2001.

2.6Overall, by mid-May a record number of people had applied to study at university in 2001-02. Applications rose significantly for some courses such as nursing (up 11.5 per cent), computer science (up 11.1 per cent) and media studies (up 9 per cent). For undergraduate teaching courses, however, there was a fall of 12 per cent in applications.

2.7The chief executive of UCAS, Tony Higgins, linked the decline in applications for undergraduate teacher training courses to the existence of training bursaries for postgraduate teacher training courses. We discuss the position on postgraduate teacher training later in this submission. Should it prove to be the case, however, that any increases in entry to postgraduate teacher training courses are at the expense of a decline in undergraduate teacher training then no overall improvement in teacher recruitment will have been achieved.

2.8It needs to be remembered that the decline reported by UCAS follows similarly sharp falls in recent years. The latest decline in the number of applications for undergraduate teacher training courses is therefore from a very low base.

2.9It is necessary, therefore, to reiterate the historical context of the latest recruitment figures. Using the figures quoted in the STRB’s own Report for 2001, it is apparent that recruitment to courses of secondary ITT was only 83 per cent of the target in 1999-2000 and 88 per cent of the target in 2000-01. More than 5,000 secondary teacher trainees would need to be recruited simply to make good the shortfalls of 1999-2000 and 2000-01. This is without taking any account of failure to reach targets before 1999-2000, or of recruitment targets in the current year.

2.10For any accurate evaluation, it is necessary to look at the whole picture on recruitment to ITT courses. This means recognising that failure to hit current recruitment targets compounds earlier failures and taking action on recruitment which will address not only current shortfalls but preceding years of under-recruitment.

2.11The Government and the STRB have placed inappropriate stress on “targeted” recruitment incentives. Paradoxically, however, the growing list of incentives introduced by the Government itself demonstrates that a targeted approach does not work where the problem is a general one. The trainee salary introduced for postgraduate courses is available to all postgraduate trainees regardless of phase or subject. The “golden hellos”, originally limited to mathematics and science, are now also available in England for English, modern languages, design and technology and ICT. In addition to trainee salaries and “golden hellos”, there are other incentives relating to training awards, student loans and tuition fees.

2.12The various incentives are overlapping, inconsistently applied and have expanded since introduction. It shows that the targeted approach has failed. It has also alienated existing teachers who did not benefit from the incentives. In order to achieve consistency and to secure real improvements in teacher recruitment, the Government must abandon its reliance on such a fundamentally flawed approach. It must recognise that the problem of teacher supply is a general problem which is not confined to particular phases, subjects or regions.

2.13The Government has made much of the increase in applications for postgraduate teacher training and has linked this increase to the availability of trainee salaries for postgraduate trainees. We reiterate our view that increases in applications should not be seen as evidence that problems of teacher supply have been solved.

2.14Applications to teacher training courses are not the same as take-up of places. Caution should be exercised in terms of the data on applications. According to the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR) Annual Statistical Report, just 59 per cent of applicants applying through the GTTR were accepted for training in 2000. The remainder withdrew their applications or were unplaced. Furthermore, as the Minister for Schools Stephen Timms MP said in Parliament on 2 July 2001, only 74 per cent of those who train as teachers enter the teaching profession. John Howson of Oxford Brookes University, a recognised authority on teacher supply, has calculated that of the 1,650 students recruited to Mathematics training courses in 1998 fewer than 1,000 were still teaching in state schools by 2001.

2.15Trainee salaries do not represent a comprehensive solution to the problems of recruitment and retention. Trainee salaries are not available for undergraduate teacher training courses. In last year’s joint submission we expressed our fear that any increases in the take-up of postgraduate places could be at the direct expense of undergraduate courses. As noted in paragraph 2.7, above, the decline in applications for undergraduate courses indicates that this could be precisely what has happened. Simply shifting the problem of teacher supply from the postgraduate to the undergraduate sector will do nothing to solve the overall problem.

2.16The peculiarities of the rules for eligibility for trainee salaries mean that sweeping conclusions should not be drawn from any increases in applications to postgraduate teacher training courses. Trainee salaries are paid to eligible trainees whether or not they subsequently take up a teaching post. As we noted in last year’s joint submission, this could tempt some eligible graduates to take up a postgraduate training place without committing themselves to a career in teaching. They could take advantage of the trainee salary in order to establish a fall-back in career terms, or to benefit from the skills acquired during teacher training. Skills such as communication skills are readily transferable and appealing to other employers of graduates.

2.17We have in the past criticised the stress placed by the DfES on vacancies as reported in its annual return. This method of measuring vacancy rates has been subjected to criticism by a wide range of commentators. The STRB itself, in its 2001 Report, noted the “well known limitations” of the DfES method.

2.18The DfES vacancy figures for January 2001, published in April, show a vacancy rate of 1.4 per cent, or less than 5,000, for all schools. These figures, it must be stressed, only include vacancies of one term or more in duration. They contrast with the results of a survey carried out by the Secondary Heads Association (SHA) and the Times Educational Supplement (TES) and published in March 2001. This estimated that there were almost 10,000 vacancies for permanent teachers in the secondary sector alone. This compared with 4,000 vacancies estimated by a similar SHA/TES survey in September 2000. This is accounted for by the unreal definition of a vacancy used by the DfES, which does not account for subject mismatch, vacancies unfilled due to the school’s financial position and posts filled on a temporary basis.

2.19Vacancy figures from individual LEAs show that teacher shortages are not limited to the secondary sector. In Surrey alone, for example, a survey circulated by the Authority in June 2001 showed that there were 269 vacancies in primary schools. This accounted for 55 per cent of all vacancies in Surrey.

2.20The inability of teaching to attract the appropriate range of graduates is underlined again by the high proportion of students with lower class degrees accepted to training courses. It has led the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) to abandon its target of ensuring that at least 95 per cent of trainees possess a minimum of a lower second by 2002.

2.21The evidence is that teaching is failing to attract the number of graduates needed to address either current shortfalls in recruitment, or the long-term shortfalls which have resulted from years of under-recruitment to the profession. The so-called targeted approach favoured by the Government and supported by the STRB, but in reality more akin to a sticking-plaster solution, has failed to tackle the root causes of teacher supply problems. They will not be tackled until and unless substantial improvements are made to teachers’ pay and to their working conditions.

3Shortage Subjects

3.1In addition to the general problems of teacher supply, difficulties continue to be experienced in recruiting teachers of particular subjects.

3.2As the overall recruitment and retention problem intensified, the number of subjects experiencing problems increased. Recruitment was short of target for subjects such as English in addition to traditional shortage subjects such as Mathematics and Science.

3.3The Government has chosen to focus on increases in applications for secondary PGCE courses and to view such increases as evidence that the problem of shortage subjects has been solved. As explained above, however, applications are not the same as take-up of places or of entry to the profession (paragraphs 2.13-2.14 above).

3.4The latest figures from the GTTR give continuing cause for concern. The GTTR reports that acceptances for Mathematics in 2000 rose by just 1.8 per cent, or 20 people, compared with 1999. Chemistry also attracted 20 additional people, while there was a fall in the number of Physics acceptances.

3.5In addition, it needs to be remembered that years of shortfalls mean that there will still be a problem with shortage subjects even if recruitment for such subjects improves in the future. Between 1996-97 and 2000-01, the number of teacher trainees recruited for Mathematics fell by 21 per cent; for Science there was a decline of 17 per cent. To compensate for the years of under-recruitment, teaching needs to recruit in excess of the targets in certain subjects.

3.6In order to reach recruitment targets, still less exceed them, teaching needs to take a high proportion of graduates in given subjects. The STRB itself noted in its latest report that in Mathematics, for example, the target for 2001-02 represented almost half the number of graduates in that subject for 2001.

3.7The problem of shortage subjects is compounded by the increase in pupil numbers in the secondary sector over the next few years. Between 2001 and 2004 the number of secondary pupils is expected to increase by 3.4 per cent. This is equivalent to an extra 118,000 pupils in secondary schools. This means that some 10,000 additional teachers need to be recruited to the secondary sector simply to maintain pupil:teacher ratios for 2000.

3.8Against this background it is inappropriate to focus on misleading headline-grabbing percentage increases in applications to secondary PGCE courses. Such figures do not tell the whole story. In Physics, for example, the 25 per cent increase in applications reported by the GTTR in July 2001 represented just 55 additional applications. The 8 per cent increase in applications for French translated into 77 additional applications. Furthermore, even these meagre actual increases are on the record low numbers of applications in the preceding year.

3.9The number of subjects defined as shortage subjects by the TTA has increased to the extent that the very phrase “shortage subjects” has become almost meaningless.

4Senior Staff

4.1Last year’s submission pointed out that there were particular recruitment and retention problems for senior staff in schools.

4.2The problem of senior staff recruitment and retention is another worrying aspect of the general recruitment and retention problem in the teaching profession. Any measures taken to address teacher supply problems must include measures to tackle the particular problems of senior staff, but should not deal with this issue in isolation from the general recruitment and retention problem.

5Equal Opportunities

5.1The ability of the teaching profession to attract a range of entrants representing the diversity of society is key to its success. In previous submissions we have monitored the failure of the profession to attract a wide range of such entrants. This failure is attributable to teacher salary levels, the operation of the salary structure and unattractive working conditions.

5.2The teaching profession continues to have an imbalance in terms of gender, age and ethnic minority participation. There are significant problems in attracting men, young people and ethnic minority groups to teaching. The extent of these problems and the potential consequences should they be allowed to continue are set out below.

5.3Men continue to be under-represented in the teaching profession. The latest figures from the then DfEE show that the proportion of men in the profession continues to decline. In March 1999, the proportion of all teachers who were men was 31.9 per cent. There has been a continuing decline in the proportion of male teachers over a long period, a trend continued by the latest figures. The STRB’s first report showed that in 1990 men accounted for 37 per cent of all teachers, compared with 31.9 per cent in 1999. In 1979 the figure was 42 per cent.

5.4The gender imbalance is particularly pronounced in the nursery and primary sector. The proportion of males amongst teachers in this sector, having declined throughout the 1990s, was just 16.5 per cent by 1999. The latest figures show no signs of improvement, with men accounting for only 16.4 per cent of applicants for primary training according to the GTTR’s July 2001 statistics. Women are particularly preponderant among classroom teachers, with men accounting for less than 12 per cent of nursery and primary classroom teachers.

5.5Traditionally men have accounted for a majority of secondary teachers. This was the case as recently as 1993. The latest figures show, however, that the gender imbalance is no longer confined to the nursery and primary sector. In 1999 men accounted for only 46.6 per cent of secondary teachers.

5.6The DfEE figures show that the gender imbalance is likely to worsen in the future. In March 1999, men accounted for just 22 per cent of teachers aged under thirty. This is almost 10 percentage points lower than the proportion of men in the teaching force as a whole. On current trends, the latter figure is bound to decline over time.

5.7Figures from the GTTR also give cause for concern. The GTTR’s Annual Statistical Report shows that only 28.6 per cent of acceptances to GTTR courses in 2000 were men. The fact that the GTTR deals mainly with acceptances for secondary courses and that men are better represented in that sector than in the primary sector means that these figures are of particular concern.

5.8The latest figures show that the preponderance of women in the profession is not reflected in the distribution of men and women at senior levels of the profession. The table below is taken from the STRB’s Leadership Group Pay Survey and sets out the position at September 2000.

SectorWomen as a proportion of:

HeadteachersDeputy HeadsAsst. Heads

Primary/Nursery58.773.585.0

Secondary28.634.332.1

Special39.063.456.5

All schools 53.361.546.2

5.9The latest figures show that the under-representation of women at headteacher and deputy headteacher continues to occur under the new salary structure. Between 1999 and 2000 there was only a marginal increase in the proportion of such posts held by women.

5.10This is the first set of data available on the gender distribution of posts in the leadership groups in addition to headteachers and deputy headteachers. It shows that the under-representation of women relative to their preponderance in the profession applies as much to assistant head posts as to headteacher and deputy headteacher posts.

5.11Only in the primary sector are women represented at assistant head level proportional to their representation in the sector as a whole. It is important, however, to note the operation of some particular factors in terms of the distribution of assistant head posts across the three sectors. Two-thirds of all assistant head posts were in the secondary sector. In addition, secondary assistant heads tend to be placed significantly higher on the leadership group pay spine than their primary equivalents. In primary schools, over 70 per cent of assistant heads were on leadership spine points L1-L5. In secondary schools, by contrast, 86 per cent of assistant heads were on spine point L10 or above. In other words, in secondary schools assistant head posts are both more widely available and worth more in salary terms.