16th December 2015 1:00
By Blue Tutors
Schools inspectorate Ofsted have called for the government to do more to retain good teachers in state schools. An annual report by the agency highlights that many state schools are experiencing difficulties hiring and retaining teachers, after government changes to training practices allowed some schools to monopolise hiring. Ofsted’s report suggests that there exists a two-tier system in which successful schools are far more able to recruit good teachers than struggling schools. The agency warned the government that the inability of some schools to recruit good teachers would further the divide between school performance in different parts of the country, with poorer schools in the north the least likely to be able to recruit and retain good teachers.
Ofsted chief Michael Wilshaw warned that the UK was ‘sleepwalking into a crisis’, in which there was a dire shortage of good teachers. He noted that since the government has moved the training of teachers to certain schools, those schools are likely to keep the good teachers for themselves, meaning that schools who cannot train teachers lose out. He also noted that more needed to be done to retain teachers who are leaving the profession in droves. Ofsted have advocated a “golden handcuff” system which would reward teachers for staying in the state system that trained them. Such a system of incentives would also be used to attract teachers to more deprived schools which need them the most.
Ofsted’s report noted that in general, the teacher profession is in trouble, with schools all over the country struggling to recruit good teachers regardless of the quality of the school or the geographical area. They pointed out that even in London there are problems attracting teachers, as they can no longer afford to live in the city. Wilshaw urge the government to act to do more to improve standards for teachers, commenting that the consequences of not doing so would be dire. He concluded by saying that divisions between schools in the north and south of the country would become so profound that many children in the north would simply not receive an education that would serve them well in adult life.