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<p>Further education (FE) teachers are pivotal to the delivery of great student outcomes
and to training the next generation of skilled workers to help boost productivity
and drive national economic growth.</p><p>The department works closely with the sector
to continually review the evidence around the impact of workforce supply and demand.
The department knows the FE sector will need to grow the overall size of its teaching
workforce due to the roll-out of T Levels which require more teaching hours, delivery
of maths to 18, demographic pressures and the delivery of other important skills reforms.</p><p>We
are making significant investments to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality
teachers, including specialist teachers. The Spending Review 2021 made an extra £1.6
billion available for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year compared with
2021/22. We are investing £125 million of available funds in the2023/24 financial
year for 16-19 education to increase the national funding rate by 2.2% from £4,542
to £4,642, and boost specific programme cost weightings by 10%, to support the additional
costs of recruiting and retaining specialist teachers in construction, manufacturing,
engineering, and digital subject areas.</p><p>In addition, Institutions in London
and the South East get additional funding through an area cost uplift to address the
higher costs of delivering education in this part of England. For example, FE colleges
in London attract a 20% uplift (inner London) and a 12% uplift (outer London), to
their 16-19 funding allocations.</p><p>The adult education budget (AEB) is devolved
to the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority.
The Mayor is now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for London
residents and allocation of the AEB to providers.</p><p>The department is supporting
teacher recruitment in the sector through a national campaign to encourage industry
professionals to become FE teachers.</p><p>We have supported the creation of new,
high-quality routes into FE teaching, including a revised Level 5 Learning and Skills
Teacher apprenticeship for those planning to work in the FE sector. The department
is also providing bursaries worth up to £29,000 each tax-free to support FE teacher
training in priority subject areas for the academic year 2023/24. The Taking Teaching
Further (TTF) programme has supported around 1,000 industry professionals to train
as FE teachers since 2018. In addition, the department is piloting a new £6,000 financial
incentive for TTF recruits teaching in some of the most hard-to-fill subject areas,
such as digital, construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing
and maths. Finally, early career support is being offered for teachers in the form
of access to a trained mentor through the Teacher Mentoring Programme which was announced
in March 2023.</p><p>The department will continue to work with the sector to consider
options for providing further support so that all learners are able to benefit from
high-quality teaching<strong>. </strong></p>
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