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Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines relevant information for England only.<\/p>
<\/p>
Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE teachers on record since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Department is taking action to increase teacher recruitment and retention and reduce vacancies. The Department accepted, in full, the School Teachers\u2019 Review Body\u2019s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and head teachers, resulting in a pay award of 6.5%. This is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years. The Department has put in place tax free bursaries worth £27,000 and tax free scholarships worth £29,000 , to encourage talented trainees in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing to apply to teacher training.<\/p>
<\/p>
Additionally, the Department supports schools and trusts with their recruitment through Teaching Vacancies. The Department\u2019s free vacancy listing service for state funded schools in England can be found here: https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/<\/a>.<\/p> <\/p> Staff wellbeing is a crucial element of our commitment to recruit and retain more teachers. The Department has published a range of resources to help schools address teacher workload issues, prioritise staff wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices.<\/p> <\/p> The Department has worked in partnership with the education sector and mental health experts to develop the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter<\/a>. Building on a successful pilot, the Department is also funding the charity, Education Support, to provide professional supervision and counselling to school and college head teachers . Over 1000 head teachers have benefitted from this support so far and the Department recently announced the expansion of the programme, by doubling places for this year. School and college leaders can find support by visiting Education Support's website, which is available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-and-fe-leaders-service/<\/a>.<\/p> <\/p> The Department does not provide guidance on teachers\u2019 sick leave. For most teachers, sick leave entitlements are set out in the Burgundy Book national agreement. This is an agreement on conditions of service between Unions and Local Authorities, facilitated by the Local Government Association, which the Department has no jurisdiction or input into. The vast majority of Local Authorities follow the terms of the Burgundy Book scheme, which is incorporated into their teachers\u2019 contracts of employment.<\/p> <\/p> All schools must ensure that they oversee the health and welfare of their staff and should have a clear sickness absence management policy. Governing bodies may find it helpful to refer to Acas\u2019s Managing Absence guidance, available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/creating-absence-policies<\/a>.<\/p> <\/p> The Health and Safety Executive also provides extensive advice on managing sickness absence and returning to work, which includes a toolkit to help with absence management, which can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence/<\/a>.<\/p>"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2023-09-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce (a) permanent vacancies and (b) sickness absences among teachers.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1653790", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1653790/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The Department is committed to ensuring that anyone, regardless of their background or where they live, can pursue an education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. The Department funds a number of diversity and inclusion programmes to increase women and girls\u2019 participation in STEM courses and careers.<\/p> In schools, girls\u2019 participation in STEM is already increasing. Girls made up 44% of all STEM entries at A level in 2022 and 51% of all science entries at A level in 2022. Since 2010, there has been a 35% increase in the number of STEM A level entries from girls in England.[1]<\/sup><\/sup> The Department is boosting the take up of STEM subjects by delivering the Prime Minister\u2019s ambition of ensuring all pupils in England study mathematics to 18.<\/p> The Department funds a number of programmes to inspire pupils, including girls, to take STEM subjects and support their engagement. This includes tailored mathematics support for students and teachers through the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme and an Inclusion in Schools project to increase the uptake of A level physics from pupils in underrepresented groups, including\u202fgirls.<\/p> The Department\u2019s programmes also include £100 million for the National Centre for Computing Education to increase participation in computer science at GCSE and A level, including funding for research on gender balance in computing, the results of which will inform a gender insights programme to support schools\u2019 awareness of barriers to girls\u2019 engagement with computing and help them improve take up of computer science qualifications. Other programmes include a national research trial on improving gender balance for physics, the results of which will be published in 2024, and the STEM Ambassadors programme, which inspires young people from underrepresented backgrounds to engage with STEM subjects. Approximately 45% of ambassadors are women and 15% are from minority ethnic backgrounds, providing young people with a variety of role models.<\/p> The Department aims to maximise opportunities for participation in STEM at every level of education. STEM apprenticeship starts by women and girls continue to increase year on year, with 14,110 starts in 2021/22, up 23.3% from 2020/21 (11,440 starts). The Department is working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on new postgraduate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science conversion courses to boost skills and diversity in AI jobs. In the programme\u2019s first year, 76% of scholarships were awarded to women, 45% to black students, and 24% to students with disabilities. 2,000 additional scholarships are available to be delivered between 2023 and 2025.<\/p> [1] House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (2023), Diversity and inclusion in STEM: Government Response to the Committee\u2019s Fifth Report, p. 8: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/135/science-innovation-and-technology-committee/publications/<\/a>.<\/p>"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1647643", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1647643/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.<\/p> The Department appreciates that gender is a complex and sensitive issue, which is why we are working with my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities, to develop guidance to support schools and colleges in relation to gender questioning children.<\/p>
The Department supports women and girls\u2019 participation in STEM apprenticeships through the Apprenticeships Diversity Champions Network. The Department is also establishing a network of 21 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) to help close skills gaps in STEM sectors. One aim of IoTs is increasing participation from underrepresented groups at the local level.<\/p>