Labour would give new teachers £2,400 to stop them quitting

Teachers would be given £2,400 to help in the early stages of their career and to stop them from leaving the profession, it has been revealed in new Labour plans.

The party said it would also make it compulsory for new teachers to have a formal teaching qualification or be working towards one – a requirement scrapped by the coalition in 2012.

It comes after new government figures showed nearly one in five teachers who qualified in 2020 have since quit.

Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson, said she would introduce extra payments for teachers who have completed their first two years of the early careers framework.

She told the programme, payments to get teachers to stay in the profession will ‘recognise’ their ‘really important development and training’.

Ms Phillipson said she aims to ‘reset the relationship’ between government and the profession.

Laura Kuenssberg emphasised how previous governments have offered one-off payments and repeatedly asked the Labour MP how her new plans would make a difference.

Ms Philipson responded, saying, it is about ‘respecting and valuing’ the profession.

‘Teachers and school leaders want the status of teaching restored once more,’ she said.

Labour says the payments would be funded by removing tax breaks for private schools.

Additional measures for all new teachers to have qualified teacher status would drive ‘high and rising standards’ in England’s schools, the party said.

The current starting salary for qualified primary and secondary teachers in England is a minimum of £28,000 outside of London, rising to £34,502 in inner London.

The government is already offering teachers in subjects hit by staffing shortages – Maths, chemistry, physics and languages – early-career payments of between £2,000 and £5,000 based on how long ago they completed their training.

It is unclear if the new policy would affect private schools, which are also able to recruit teachers without formal qualifications.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said: ‘Schools are in the middle of a recruitment and retention crisis, so it is right that Labour should make this a high priority,’ he said.

‘The ambition for every class to be taught by a qualified teacher is also welcome – every parent should be able to expect that their child is taught by someone with the requisite expertise.

‘Plans to improve early career training and ongoing professional development are sensible but Labour will need to be prepared to go further if they are to begin to solve the current crisis.

‘We know that issues such as uncompetitive pay and a punitive inspection system are key factors in pushing people out of the profession, and it is only by tackling these that we will see teaching and school leadership become an attractive proposition once again.’

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Conservative Party said: ‘We have seen yet more evidence this morning that Labour cannot be trusted on a word they say.

‘Labour have flip-flopped so many times on education policy there is no guarantee they will actually stick to this latest announcement.

‘Only the Conservatives are delivering on education and driving up literacy rates – putting parents and pupils first.’

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