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<p>The department recognises the huge contribution the early years and teaching workforces
make to giving every child the best start in life, especially during this period of
education recovery.</p><p>The department continues to work with the early years sector
to build our understanding of our workforce needs, including any issues related to
recruitment and retention. The government is committed to ensuring there are routes
to graduate level qualifications, alongside wider professional development activity
for the workforce.</p><p>As part of our work to support recovery from the impacts
of the COVID-19 pandemic, the department announced up to £153 million in programmes
to support workforce development. This includes increasing the number of places available
for early years initial teacher training (EYITT). We are also developing new early
years training routes.</p><p>The department recognises more needs to be done to ensure
that primary teaching remains an attractive, high-status profession. At the heart
of the Schools White Paper’s vision to boost literacy and numeracy outcomes is the
need for an excellent teacher for every child. We aim to continue attracting and retaining
the highly skilled teachers that every child needs. The Schools White Paper can be
accessed here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunity-for-all-strong-schools-with-great-teachers-for-your-child"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunity-for-all-strong-schools-with-great-teachers-for-your-child</a>.</p><p>To
do this, the department is taking action to improve teacher recruitment and retention
by transforming the training and support we provide, not only to attract more people
into teaching, but to encourage them to stay and thrive in the profession. Every teacher
now has access to a golden thread of high-quality, evidence-based training and professional
development at every stage of their career.</p><p>The department is creating an entitlement
to at least three years of structured training, support, and professional development
for all new teachers, bringing teaching into line with other prestigious professions
such as law, accountancy, and medicine. Underpinning this is the new Initial Teacher
Training (ITT) Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework (ECF). Together,
these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based
training, across ITT and into their induction. We also remain committed to increasing
teacher starting salaries to £30,000 to make teaching an attractive graduate option.</p><p>Beyond
the first few years of teaching, our priority is to help all teachers and school leaders
to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so every child in
every classroom in every school gets the best start in life. Teachers can now benefit
from an updated suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). Aimed at those
who want to develop expertise in high-quality teaching practice, to those leading
multiple schools across trusts, these professional development programmes are now
free to access for those eligible to apply.</p><p>Teacher retention is key to ensuring
effective teacher supply and quality, and we are taking action to support teachers
to stay in the profession and thrive. The department has published a range of resources
to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible
working practices.</p>
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