Rise in number of unqualified teachers at state-funded schools in England
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Version 0 of 1. Unions reacted angrily on Thursday after official figures showed a sharp rise in the number of unqualified teachers employed by state-funded schools in England. The growth follows education secretary Michael Gove's 2012 decision to give academies and free schools the freedom to hire staff without standard qualifications such as a postgraduate certificate in education. The Department for Education figures reveal that, after years of decline in the number of unqualified teachers in classrooms, there was a sharp jump from 14,800 in 2012 to 17,100 in November last year, when the national survey was carried out. The number of frontline staff without qualified teaching status (QTS) employed by academies and free schools rose by 2,600 to nearly 8,000 – meaning nearly 6% of the 141,000 full-time teaching staff at both types of school lack teaching accreditation. In free schools, teachers without QTS represent 13% of 1,500 full-time teachers. In contrast, teachers without QTS make up 3.8% of teachers in state-funded schools overall. Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, said he would scrap the policy and insist all teachers had qualifications or were training towards them. "The evidence from the best performing school systems around the world shows us that the quality of teaching makes the biggest difference to raising school standards," Hunt said. "Many parents will be shocked to learn that David Cameron is damaging school standards by making entry requirements into teaching in this country amongst the lowest in world." The DfE's annual school workforce survey also showed a continued rise in the use of teaching assistants in state schools, with primaries and nurseries employing three teaching assistants for every four full-time teachers. Since 2000 the number of teaching assistants – who tend to be lower paid and have fewer qualifications – has risen from 79,000 to 243,000. Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said recent surveys commissioned by the union showed a clear majority of parents wanted their children taught by qualified professionals. "The increase in unqualified teachers shown by the workforce survey is not welcome news. There have already been cases where having unqualified teachers has proved to be a disaster," Blower said, highlighting the abrupt resignation of an unqualified head teacher at Pimlico primary free school in London, and the Discovery free school in Crawley, which employed unqualified teachers but has now been shut down by the DfE. "It is one thing to be an expert in your field and quite another to know how to convey that knowledge to a class of 30," she said. The DfE said the survey showed a rise in the quality of academic qualifications held by teaching staff, with 96% of teachers in state schools educated to degree level or above. A spokesman for the DfE said: "Our reforms are putting teachers in the driving seat. Through academies and free schools, we are giving heads and teachers more power over what happens in the classroom and freeing them from interference by politicians. "That's good news for teachers, who can get on with their jobs, and good news for parents, who can be confident that teachers are solely focused on ensuring the best possible outcomes for their children." Outside of teacher qualifications, the survey painted a brighter picture of teaching in England. Between 2012 and 2013 the number of full-time teachers employed rose by 9,000, taking the total to 451,100 – which the DfE said was the highest number on record. There was no obvious sign of teachers leaving the profession in droves, despite a recent study showing that some primary teachers work 60 hours a week. Yesterday's DfE survey recorded just 750 vacancies across the country, so that the vacancy rate remains just 0.2% of the workforce. The average salary for a full-time qualified teacher was £38,100, a £500 rise from the previous year – with the figures showing little difference between pay in academies, free schools and maintained schools. School leaders – including head teachers, deputies and departmental heads – earned an average of £56,000. However the figures also showed that nearly 1% of head teachers earned more than £100,000 a year. "Head teachers should have their annual salaries published in a clear and transparent way like every other person in senior public service positions," said Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers union. "It is scandalous that schools in receipt of millions of pounds of public money do not have a requirement to show exactly what they pay their heads." But Russell Hobby, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "Headline grabbing figures do not take into account the 1,800 school leaders who earn less than £40,000 a year. "Many head teachers at smaller schools also have to balance a teaching role with their leadership responsibilities and managing growing demands on their budgets and time." Some 600 senior staff – almost all of them head teachers – earned between £100,000 to £110,000, while a further 300 earned more than £110,000. Two-thirds of the highly-paid heads worked in academies or free schools, while 300 were employed by maintained state schools. The total earning £100,000 and above was little changed from 2012's figures, when more than 800 were reported to be in the same pay bracket. |