answer text |
<p>Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines relevant information
for England only.</p><p> </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> </p><p>The Department
is taking action to increase teacher recruitment and retention and reduce vacancies.
The Department accepted, in full, the School Teachers’ Review Body’s 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> </p><p>Additionally,
the Department supports schools and trusts with their recruitment through Teaching
Vacancies. The Department’s free vacancy listing service for state funded schools
in England can be found here: <a href="https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/"
target="_blank">https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p> </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> </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: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter"
target="_blank">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: <a href="https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-and-fe-leaders-service/"
target="_blank">https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-and-fe-leaders-service/</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>The Department does not provide guidance on teachers’ 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’ contracts of employment.</p><p>
</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’s Managing Absence guidance, available at: <a href="https://www.acas.org.uk/creating-absence-policies"
target="_blank">https://www.acas.org.uk/creating-absence-policies</a>.</p><p> </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: <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence/" target="_blank">https://www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence/</a>.</p>
|
|