Commenting on a new data analysis of initial teacher training figures by the National Foundation for Educational Research and the Nuffield Foundation, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The NFER report underlines the damage that would be caused by the government's proposed 6.5 per cent pay increase spread over three years. But the issue of teacher pay must also be looked at in the context of the 23 per cent pay cut against RPI inflation since 2010, a much bigger pay cut than those in other professions. This has done enormous damage to the competitiveness of teacher pay and as this report shows improvements to teacher supply have not repaired the damage to recruitment and retention.
“The report calls for increases in teacher pay to match the growth in average earnings outside teaching. The government must in addition provide the investment needed to fully fund the urgent and above inflation pay increase needed this year as the first step in the long term pay correction the NEU is calling for. Without such investment teacher shortages will continue and is why the NEU is running a campaign to save education through better pay and funding and running an indicative ballot of members.
“Reversing the pay cuts is in the interests of pupils and parents as well as teachers. It's also in the Government's own interests. Its proposed SEND reforms won't be achieved unless it invests properly in the educators needed to deliver those reforms.”