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The UK general election is right around the corner, but what is the current government offering in terms of teacher retention, and the future of education if they are re-elected?
The Conservative party have been in government since 2010, so while other parties are looking to overcome what they see as a teaching recruitment and retention crisis, the Tories are looking to meet the challenge of recruiting more talented teachers.
The Conservative government has introduced starting salaries of £30,000 and state in their manifesto that there is a record number of teachers, with 27,000 more than there was in 2010.
In their manifesto, it’s stated that they will “attract more talented teachers by expanding our recruitment and retention premium and reducing workload”. The teacher recruitment and retention strategy was in the advanced stages of a refresh before the election was called, so it’s likely that this would be brought forward if the Conservatives were to win the election.
Policies put forward to combat teacher recruitment and retention rates are all already existing. This includes the Levelling Up Premium payments, where teachers working in key subjects in the first 5 years of their career will be eligible for payments of up to £6,000 from this September.
In the Conservative Manifesto, they pledge to reduce teacher workload as part of their plan to improve retention and recruitment.
The workload reduction taskforce, established by the Secretary of State in 2023, was created to support the government's aim of reducing teachers’ and leaders’ working hours by 5 hours a week within 3 years (2027). The role of the taskforce was to make recommendations to Government, Ofsted, School and Trust leaders by the end of March 2024.
The recommendations of this taskforce were in the advanced stages of implementation before the election was called, so it’s likely that these will be implemented if the election were to be won by the Conservatives.
The following are the education policies set out by the Conservatives in their manifesto:
Having been in Government for 14 years, the Conservatives believe that their plan for education, and teacher retention and recruitment is working, which is why they haven’t announced as many pledges as other parties might.
When we wake up on the 5th of July, will these policies be enough to battle teacher retention and recruitment issues for the next 5 years? The Conservatives think so, other parties might disagree, but it ultimately comes down to you and your opinion - so use your vote on Thursday 4th July!