ES/S5/17/15/A

EDUCATION AND SKILLS COMMITTEE

AGENDA

15th Meeting, 2017 (Session 5)

Wednesday 17 May 2017 The Committee will meet at 10.00 am in the Robert Burns Room (CR1). 1. Workforce Planning for Scotland's Schools: The Committee will take

evidence from—

Dr Rowena Arshad, Head of Moray House School of Education, and Dr Lesley Reid, Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Edinburgh; Laurence Findlay, Corporate Director, Education & Social Care, Moray Council; Dr Liz Lakin, Senior Lecturer in Education, Learned Societies’ Group on Scottish STEM Education; and Jane Peckham, National Official (Scotland), NASUWT.

2. Review of evidence (in private): The Committee will review the evidence heard earlier.

3. Personal and Social Education draft report (in private): The Committee will

consider a draft report on Personal and Social Education.

Roz Thomson Clerk to the Education and Skills Committee

Room T3.40 The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh Tel: 85222

Email: Roz.Thomson@parliament.scot

ES/S5/17/15/A

The papers for this meeting are as follows— Agenda Item 1

SPICe briefing

ES/S5/17/15/1

Submissions pack

ES/S5/17/15/2

Agenda Item 3

Draft report (private paper)

ES/S5/17/15/3 (P)

ES/S5/17/15/1

Education and Skills Committee Teacher Workforce Planning

17 May 2017

INTRODUCTION

At this second evidence session on teacher workforce planning, the Committee will hear from: NASUWT; Moray Council; STEM Learned Societies Group, Royal Society of Edinburgh; and Moray House, University of Edinburgh.

The majority of issues raised in submissions to the Committee are familiar from previous reviews of workforce planning and teacher training. In the last major review the Donaldson report (2011) acknowledged the difficulties in achieving efficient workforce planning.

“The foundations of a successful education system lie in ensuring an appropriate supply of high-quality teachers covering geographical areas, education sectors and curriculum specialisms. Achieving that goal with any consistency has proved difficult for countries across the globe, including in Scotland. It needs teaching to be seen as an attractive option for well-qualified individuals who have a commitment to young people and their learning. It also requires good, flexible workforce planning and careful selection of students into initial teacher education courses.”

Donaldson set out the two key challenges of setting teacher training numbers:

“An effective policy for workforce planning must contain mechanisms to deal with periods of both high and low demand for teaching posts. The process needs to be looked at in two ways: first, what can be done to predict the required numbers earlier and with greater certainty; and second, what can be done to mitigate the impact of mismatches between supply and demand?”

THEME 1: SETTING AND MEETING INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION TARGETS Each year Ministers advise the Scottish Funding Council on the number of places to be provided in universities for initial teacher education. This advice is based on a teacher workforce planning exercise involving COSLA, ADES, GTCS, teacher unions and representatives of universities. This takes into account various factors including: pupil projections, age profile of the teaching profession and projected number of leavers from the profession. Recently the Scottish Government has phased in setting targets for individual subjects at secondary school rather than setting targets only for groups of subjects.

Following increases to target numbers in the early 2000’s, numbers dropped back to 2,307 by 2010, but have since risen steadily and at, 4,058 in 2017/18, are approaching the earlier high point seen in 2004 (4,437). (See chart in last week’s paper).

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In their submission to the Committee the GTCS suggests that the group could work more closely with local authorities:

“The nature of this group requires to be reviewed in order to work more closely with local authorities who have a greater insight into local trends such as the number of retirements, the age profile of staff both in the short term and the long term, patterns of maternity leave etc.”

Local supply and demand The GTCS suggest consideration of local staffing formulae and closer alignment of university placements to local vacancy trends, suggesting that:

“university places could be allocated taking into account local excess and shortage of teachers – often student teachers are more likely to seek a job in the area in which they studied.”

This issue arose in Committee last week, when student teachers talked about reluctance to move from where they study to other areas of the country. Willie MacLeod (student teacher) suggested that instead of looking for teachers, look for people in the local area who can be trained as teachers. He is being paid to do a PGDE by Western Isles Council.

There are schemes run by University of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee which enable local authority employees to train as teachers. These are being expanded under the ‘new routes into teaching’ announced in November (see below). Also included in the planned new routes is funding for the UHI to deliver ITE through colleges.

“We will provide development funding for the 2017/18 academic year to the University of the Highlands and Islands to build on its model of delivering Initial Teacher Education through local colleges.” (Scottish Government, National Improvement Framework and Plan).

ITE Recruitment In 2016/17, under recruitment was 2.7% (108 out of 4,058 places). A breakdown of recruitment figures was provided in last week’s paper. In Secondary PGDE the subjects with the largest absolute shortfalls are maths (51 students below target of 179), technological education (39 students below target of 86) and English (31 students below target of 194). However maths and English are also those with the highest targets. Technological education has one of the largest shortfalls both in absolute numbers and in proportion of the target.

Not all subjects have shortfalls. There was over-recruitment in history (18 students above target), geography (12 above target), chemistry (6 above), PE (5 above), modern studies (3 above) and physics (1 above).

Primary school courses over-recruited slightly (758 students for 710 places on BEd and 1,247 students on 1,235 places on PGDE).

Graduate labour market Teaching competes with other graduate professions. The submission from Teach First quotes the ‘HighFliers UK’ survey of graduate career aspirations, noting a decline in the proportion of graduates intending to become teachers:

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“Fewer than one in ten finalists were applying to the teaching profession - the 2017 survey shows that a total of 9.9 per cent of final year students from the ‘Class of 2017’ had applied or intended to apply for teaching positions. This continues a steep downward trend that started in 2012, when just over 15 per cent of those interviewed had the intention of becoming a teacher.”

The Committee may wish to discuss:

What additional data (if any) needs to be considered when setting the targets.

Whether the process of setting the targets needs to be more transparent

Whether greater account should be taken of local teacher shortages when

allocating places between different teacher education institutions and

developing distance learning courses

The causes of under-recruitment of student teachers for specific subjects

The extent to which government can influence how attractive teaching is as a

profession for graduates

THEME 2. CONTENT OF ITE Last week the Committee heard from student teachers highlighting:

varied approaches between different courses and institutions

level of coverage of, for example, literacy, numeracy and ASN

GTCS accredit ITE courses and set guidelines which were last revised in 2013. These include, for example,

“ITE programmes will therefore develop in student teachers broad knowledge of the nature and range of additional support needs, effective ways of supporting those with such needs and knowledge of inclusion and equalities legislation.”

The National Improvement Framework/Plan (December 2016) included a review of ITE:

“We will work with Education Scotland and GTCS to undertake a review of Initial Teacher Education programmes to report by April 2017, to ensure that they provide appropriate detail on content for literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, data literacy and equality across both primary and secondary sectors.”

The report has been completed and is due to be published shortly (Scottish Government personal communication).

Last week the Committee heard from student teachers about their views on ITE. Last year, the Scottish Government has published an evaluation of the impact of the Donaldson report and reforms resulting from it. This reported findings from a survey of recently qualified teachers which mirrors many of the same issues currently being considered by this Committee. Findings on ITE included:

Local Authority representatives considered ITE to be more effective than five years

ago, and both teachers and LA representatives in the qualitative research noted an

improvement in the quality of students and probationers.

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students appeared to be confident going into their probationary year - two-thirds of

survey respondents who had completed ITE at a Scottish university within the last

five years thought that their ITE was 'effective' or 'very effective' in preparing them

for their first post

Overall, respondents who had completed ITE in the last five years were positive

about the support they received from their university during their school placement:

52% reported that it was 'effective' and a further 20% said that it was 'very effective'

The evaluation report raised the following issues for further consideration, which mirror the themes raised with the Committee:

Joint assessment: further clarification and agreement of the respective roles of the school and the university

Student placements: improved communication between the university and the school on a number of aspects

Consider ways of incorporating more practical strategies into ITE - particularly in relation to behaviour management

As mentioned, the Scottish Government is encouraging new routes into teaching. In total, more than 11 alternate routes into teaching are being adopted by six institutions across the country.

Two examples are the MSc in Transformative Learning with Teaching at Moray House and the PGDE with integrated Masters at Strathclyde. In February, the GTCS accredited an MSc in Transformative Learning with Teaching at Moray House, due to start in September. Students spend two days per week in their cluster schools throughout the duration of the programme, with some block periods of time built in. Subject pathways offered in the first instance will focus on shortage subjects: Computing Science, English, Mathematics and Physics. In April, the GTCS accredited a new course at Strathclyde University:

The University of Strathclyde has developed a pilot Professional Graduate Diploma

in Education (PGDE) with integrated Masters in response to the Scottish

Government’s plans to address recruitment challenges. Now accredited by GTCS,

the pilot course will enable 20 STEM graduates who plan to teach in the areas of

chemistry, mathematics and physics to attain a PGDE alongside a Masters in

Education (MEd) at Strathclyde this summer, fully funded by Scottish Government.

The intensive course will begin in July 2017 and offers an opportunity for the pilot

group to enter the workforce earlier than those on the usual PGDE course. For further information on the other new routes into teaching see GTCS.

Last week the Committee heard from student teachers, one commenting that a two year postgraduate teacher training course would be a barrier towards career changers to teaching, as “no one can afford two years without a wage or any sort of payment.” Another suggested that PGDE students should be offered a bursary.

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The Committee may wish to discuss:

Whether the core content of ITE needs to be reconsidered

The level of variation that is acceptable between different institutions

How successful are ITE courses at integrating theory and practice

THEME 3: PLACEMENTS As part of their initial teacher education, students complete school based placements. The GTCS sets the minimum number of days, but as Donaldson noted:

“there is no single model across Scotland and the universities have developed different patterns and concepts of placement to complement their campus-based provision. “

The main themes in written submissions to the Committee from student teachers about placements were:

travel time

importance of staff attitude, and in particular, the importance of the mentor role

last minute allocations

workload

In response to media coverage of the Committee’s submissions, John Swinney was quoted in the Herald saying:

”it is important we take very seriously the feedback we get from aspiring teachers as they go through the system. If the experience of trainee teachers is not satisfactory then we must all take due account of that. The trainee teacher placement in schools is a critical part of the professional development of trainee teachers to acquire skills , but it is equally there for teachers to be able to mentor and encourage new members of the professions and also to learn from them.” (Herald, 10th May 2017).

Time spent on placement The current requirements are:

30 weeks on placement for those on the traditional undergraduate teaching degree

(including combined degrees)

18 weeks on placements for those on PGDE or concurrent degrees

(Combined degrees are those where the teaching qualification is awarded within the degree, (The ‘traditional’ form of the BEd. Concurrent degrees are those where the degree is awarded with the teaching qualification being awarded separately). (GTCS guidelines for ITE.) In 2011 the Donaldson report had noted the difficult issue of deciding the amount of time to be spent on a placement:

“The balance between time spent on placement and time spent in university remains contentious. Many respondents, particularly students and newly-qualified teachers strongly indicated that they perceived that the most valuable part of initial

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teacher education programmes was the placement experience. Despite 50% of the postgraduate degree programme being given over to placement and a minimum of 30 weeks over four years on the undergraduate route, 60% of graduates from the one-year programme and 51% of graduates from the undergraduate routes said that this was insufficient and argued that more time should be given to placement.”

Administration of allocations GTC Scotland has had responsibility for the system of placing students undertaking Initial Teacher Education courses into schools since 2012. This is done through the Student Placement System which GTCS hosts. However, the placements themselves are arranged between universities and local authorities. In 2016 there were problems allocating student placements (BBC 2016 ) and student teachers appearing before the Committee last week voiced their frustration at the administrative complexities of the placement system. Reference was made to:

last minute allocations

different approaches to paying travel expenses

not taking account of whether students have a driving licence

The Committee may wish to discuss:

How to ensure all schools provide high quality placements for students

How to ensure that adequate time is available for teachers to act as mentors

to student teachers

The correct balance between university and placement based work in initial

teacher education

Whether the placement system needs to be more accommodating of students

with family commitments

How the administration of placement allocations can be improved

THEME 4. PROBATION AND RECRUITMENT TO FIRST TEACHING JOB Probationer employment The tables below from the teacher census show how, over the last five years, an increasing proportion of probationers have gained employment. In September 2016, 55% of the 2015/16 probationer cohort had obtained permanent, full time employment in a Scottish local authority schools (1,1388 teachers). This compares to only 13% of the 2009/10 cohort in September 2010. Table 1: Percentage of post-probationers in permanent or temporary employment in the following year's teacher census, 2009/10 to 2015/16

Probationer cohort

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16

Full-time permanent

13 16 28 35 39 45 55

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Full-time temporary

29 35 35 35 33 35 27

Part-time permanent

2 1 3 2 2 2 2

Part-time temporary

15 14 8 6 6 4 2

Other(1) 42 34 25 21 20 14 13

Teachers in cohort

3,044 2,857 1,944 2,044 2,215 2,448 2,524

(1) The "Other" category includes those teaching elsewhere, including in the independent sector, those who have found supply work, and those who are unemployed or who have left teaching, although this detail is not included in the census data.

Table 2 shows that some of these teachers secure posts later in the year or in subsequent years. For example while 66 per cent of the 2010/11 cohort were present in the 2011 census, in the following censuses the percentage increased to 70 per cent in 2012 and 2013, 71 per cent in 2014 onwards.

Table 2: Percentage of post-probationers in permanent or temporary employment, 2010 to 2016

cohort Sep-10

Sep-11

Sep-12

Sep-13

Sep-14

Sep-15

Sep-16

2009/10 58 66 70 70 71 71 71

2010/11 66 70 70 71 71 71

2011/12 75 77 79 77 78

2012/13 79 77 77 77

2013/14 80 81 79

2014/15 86 83

2015/16 87 source: Summary statistics for schools 2016, tables 3.5 and 3.6

Out of a cohort of 2,524 probationers in 2015/16, 13% were not employed (either part time, full time, temporary or permanently) in local authority schools. This represents 328 probationers not moving into jobs in local authority Scottish schools in September 2016 (although some of them may be supply teachers). Salary Flexibility Recruitment difficulties are particularly acute in certain geographical areas and certain subjects. Currently teachers’ pay and conditions are set nationally and do not differentiate between subject taught or area of the country. Within this however, there is some room to differentiate for individual posts. The SNCT Handbook states that:

1.26 A council may increase the salary of a teacher if, in the particular circumstances of the post, it considers the salary to be inadequate. Such placement will not necessarily be accepted as applicable in respect of future employment with another council. This provision shall not be applied to effect a general increase in the salaries of a particular category of post

The Committee may wish to discuss:

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Whether the figure of 55% probationers moving immediately into permanent

employment is in line with discussions about teacher shortages. To what

extent might it reveal a mismatch between subject and location of

probationers compared to teaching vacancies. If so, what can be done to

achieve a better match?

How should workforce planning take into account the ability of teachers to

move to a new area for employment

What extent of local or subject specific incentives or salary differences would

be acceptable in order to attract teachers to posts that are difficult to fill

THEME 5. RETENTION OF EXISTING STAFF Around a third of classroom teachers responding to the Committee said they were currently looking at other careers or plan to leave early due to the demands of the role. (34.8%. n = 78 of 224 responses). For example a secondary school deputy head teacher said:

“Last year alone I witnessed the resignation of three promoted colleagues, all extremely respected and experienced,[…] all were so completely sickened by the local authority cuts and management restructuring programme that they decided they had had enough and left the profession, giving up rather than wait a few years for their retirement. At present many of my colleagues are looking into lucrative teaching opportunities in the Middle East […] Many staff with financially secure partners are leaving and I know of a few who have opted to work in supermarkets instead.” (sub 44, secondary school Deputy Headteacher)

In their submission to the Committee the GTCS summarise problems with retention. These reflect issues raised in submissions to the Committee.

Lack of job satisfaction with the working environment which is perceived by teachers as being overly bureaucratic

Lack of formal recognition or professional incentives

Lack of support systems within the profession

Increasingly complex range of additional support needs to be addressed within mainstream classrooms combined with insufficient training for teachers to do so

Increasing challenges and expectations of some parents

Significant reduction in support staff

Lack of time for teachers to think, collaborate, and improve their skills within the 35 hour working week

Need for improved, healthier working environment and support for teachers

Lack of flexible working opportunities and contracts i.e. job share – teaching is less flexible than other professions

Lack of promotion opportunities When teachers feel valued they don’t want to move on to other jobs and the

business of recruitment becomes easier as there are many more advocates of the profession.

The Committee may wish to discuss:

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The extent to which barriers to recruitment of new teachers differ from

barriers to retention of those established in their careers

Which issues, in the opinion of the witnesses, create the greatest barriers to

retention and how might these be tackled

THEME 6. HEAD TEACHERS There is a long running and well known issue with recruiting head teachers. In Committee last week, members heard from head teachers about the workload involved. Many of the submissions to the Committee from head teachers raised general issues about recruitment of all staff. The most common issue raised in relation to their own posts was the workload – in part caused by the shortages in other areas requiring them to provide more class cover. This in turn reduced colleagues’ interest in considering moving from classroom teacher to head teacher. The lack of career structure was also a common theme in the attractiveness of teaching generally, but also as a route into headship. ADES reported on head teacher recruitment in March 2016. This was based on interviews with 80 head teachers and depute head teachers. Findings included that:

“there is a serious recruitment issue across the country […] unless immediate action is taken, the failure to recruit head teachers will become one of the inhibitors to the progress of school improvement on a national scale and also will lead to significant operational difficulty locally.”

The report summarises the key issues raised and makes recommendations concerning:

A national action plan

Career pathways and preparation for headship

Support for head teachers

Terms, conditions and incentives

Promoting the role of head teacher

From 2019, newly appointed head teachers will be required to hold the GTCS Standard for Headship. There has been some concern that this may act as a further disincentive to new applicants. For example, the report on the consultation on the draft regulations (April 2017) found that

“Overall the draft regulations were welcomed but a note of caution was urged that we guard against introducing an extra barrier that will result in the unintended consequence of decreasing applicants for head teacher posts”

The National Improvement Framework and Plan for 2017 included a commitment to an action plan on head teacher recruitment:

“We will work with partners across Scottish education to support more teachers to take the step to headship including publishing a nationally agreed action plan by June 2017, further to the conclusion of the Working Group on Headteacher Recruitment.”

The Committee may wish to discuss:

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Potential to improve career progression in order to provide ‘stepping stones’

to head teacher posts

Impact of supply teacher shortages on head teachers

Impact of national educational policy on head teacher workload

How greater autonomy for head teachers might impact on the desirability of

the role

Differentiation in payscale between depute heads and head teachers

What ought to be in the action plan on head teacher recruitment, due in June

THEME 7. SUPPLY TEACHERS A survey by the Scottish Negotiating Council for Teachers in November 2015 found that:

“the majority of Scottish Councils are reporting a declining situation in providing sufficient supply cover.” (see SNCT 2016)

Many of the individual submissions to the Committee raised problems with finding supply teachers. A pay deal in 2011 has been blamed by many for exacerbating problems in obtaining supply teachers. Under this arrangement supply teachers were paid on the bottom of the pay scale for the first five days (later reduced to two). A new website has been developed to help with recruitment. Supply teachers can put their profile and register interest on the site in order that councils can search for suitable supply teachers. The site is in “active testing stage” with eight councils (TESS 21st April 2017). At Committee last week, Karen Vaughan, a supply teacher, told the Committee that there were times when she was available for supply work but not contacted because local authorities would not consider ‘buying in cover’ unless a teacher was absent for more than three weeks. She said:

“people use the grapevine—somebody says, “Right, Karen is sitting at home doing nothing, so I texted her last night and she can come in and cover a double higher computing period, so the kids will not miss out.” The general response is, “We’ve got to wait until somebody is off for three weeks before we can buy in cover.””

The Committee may wish to discuss:

Impact of the 2011 pay agreement on the availability of supply teachers

Any local authority policies on provision of cover which restrict schools from

accessing supply cover

Whether more centralised systems have potential to ease the problem, or

whether the personal relationship with a local school is a key factor in getting

supply cover

Whether local authorities, schools and Scottish government have enough

data about numbers and availability of supply teachers

THEME 8. IMPACT OF SHORTAGES The submissions to the Committee give examples of the impact of shortages which include:

composite classes

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shared headships

head teacher and deputy heads covering for staff absences rather than supply

teachers, which impacts on their ability to cover other aspects of their role

lack of support for pupils with additional support needs, which can also impact on

the whole class

reduction in subject choice

pupils being taught by non-specialist teachers in early secondary, which can then

impact on their attainment when moving to National Qualifications

One primary school head teacher said:

“We have had to use the “raising attainment” teacher to cover classes, where required which has impacted on progress made in this area.” (Primary school head teacher).

Another referred to holding longer assemblies:

“absence covered by SMT or by collapsing the non-contact timetable and holding longer and more frequent assemblies” (primary school head teacher)

A special school head teacher said that:

“in some cases, classroom assistants have been left with classes for full days when no-one else has been able to cover”

One secondary school head teacher explained the impact:

“Supply teachers are used all the time to ensure that classes have registered teacher in front of them. They are not specialist in the areas required and this does impact on the pupil experience. Where vacancies and absences are long term we have been largely unable to recruit supply staff in the appropriate curricular area. This impacts on long term attainment and means we have had to adapt timetables to ensure pupils studying for qualifications have a specialist in front of them. This increases the workload of staff we have in the school and severely reduces the experience of pupils in S1-3. The more we increase workload, the greater absences are likely to be.”

The Committee may wish to discuss:

Extent to which stress and workload act as both cause and effect of teacher

shortages

Impact of teacher and support staff shortages on key government policies

such as the poverty related attainment gap and Curriculum for Excellence

(and vice versa)

Whether shared headships and greater use of composite classes impact on

pupil attainment

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Camilla Kidner SPICe 11th May 2017

Agenda item 1 ES/S5/17/15/2

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EDUCATION AND SKILLS COMMITTEE

Teacher Workforce Planning Inquiry

Submissions pack

Wednesday 17 May 2017

Witnesses 1. Submissions from the witnesses are reproduced in the Annexe to this paper.

Other submissions 2. All of the submissions can be found on the Committee’s webpage and are listed

below—

Local Authorities

COSLA (156KB pdf)

Aberdeen City Council (255KB pdf)

Moray Council (151KB pdf)

Aberdeenshire Council (140KB pdf)

Northern Alliance (Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles) (142KB pdf)

West Dunbartonshire Council (156KB pdf)

Universities

University Of Dundee (196KB pdf)

University of the West of Scotland (356KB pdf)

University Of Edinburgh (475KB pdf)

University of Glasgow (1.66MB pdf)

University of Strathclyde (379KB pdf)

Academics

Richard Holme, Lecturer in Education and Business Development (194KB pdf)

Susan McLaren, Senior Lecturer Design and Technology, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh (338KB pdf)

Trade unions

NASUWT (24KB pdf)

EIS (142KB pdf) Other Organisations

Coalition fo4r Racial Equality and Rights (316KB pdf)

Teach First (386KB pdf)

SCIS- Scottish Council of Independent Schools (316KB pdf)

Learned Societies Group on Scottish STEM Education (535KB pdf)

GTCS- General Teaching Council for Scotland (639Kb pdf)

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Children In Scotland (254KB pdf)

National Deaf Children's Society (157KB pdf)

RNIB Scotland (78KB pdf) Gaelic Teaching/Parent Organisations

Comann nam Pàrant (209KB pdf)

Comann nam Pàrant Dùn Èideann (Edinburgh group) (307KB pdf)

Questionnaires 3. The Committee issued questionnaires to trainee teachers, teachers and other

school staff to get their direct experiences on issues impacting on recruitment and retention. Almost 700 were received, around 350 before the deadline. Members were provided links to the questionnaires received before the deadline this week and those documents can be found online on the Committee’s website.

4. There are a further four documents with the questionnaires received after the deadline and links those documents are listed below. Please note some of these documents are very long.

Trainee teachers (491KB pdf)

Teachers (2MB pdf)

Head teachers and other senior school staff (686KB pdf)

School staff other than teachers (362KB pdf)

Spice briefing 5. Background on the workforce planning process and an analysis/summary of the

first batch of questionnaire responses was undertaken by SPICe in a paper for the Committee last week. This paper has been published separately for ease of reference and can be found here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S5_Education/Inquiries/20170505ES.workforce_planning_SPICe_paper.pdf

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ANNEXE

Submissions from witnesses Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh Teacher Workforce planning for Scotland’s schools – response from the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh to the Scottish Parliament Education and Skills Committee Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh welcomes the opportunity to provide a response to teacher workforce planning for Scotland’s schools. As we are responding from an HE perspective, we will limit our response to the matter of teacher recruitment, rather than on retention. Our response largely covers Q1(challenges to teacher recruitment), Q2 (processes for recruiting the right number of teachers) and Q4 (trainee teachers and non-completion) Despite the vital role that teacher’s play, the public perception of teaching is conflicting. On the one hand, the teaching profession is recognized as an honorable profession which benefits society, however, this is positioned against a view that the work of a teacher is becoming increasingly complex leading to lower job satisfaction, stress and heavy workloads. Certainly, our students returning from site-based learning have voiced concerns about perceived workloads and the responsibilities facing teachers on a day-to-day basis. In particular, student teachers report significant paperwork related to assessment and the lack of planning time for classroom teachers. Some report having no mentor appointed or appointed very late; mentors having not protected time so any feedback is provided ‘on the run’ and mentors not being adequately prepared for their roles. It is therefore encouraging that applications to enter teaching continue to be generally buoyant. Many still view teaching as rewarding and desirable but numbers are also supported by Scottish Government teacher workforce planning which provides assurances of job security and opportunities for applicants. As a provider of teacher education, a key role we have is to work with partners such as central and local government, the Third sector, parent and community organisations to assist prospective pupils, parents and the community to understand teaching to be an excellent career choice. In Moray House, we stress the transformative possibilities teachers can make to the life opportunities of their pupils and the pivotal role each teacher has to ‘making the difference’. Recruitment of high quality applicants for postgraduate qualification as teachers in the primary sector is not an issue. For example, the majority of our applicants to PGDE primary come to us with 2.1 or first class degrees, many with considerable professional and life experience. It is not uncommon to have applicants who already hold Master’s degrees or a doctorate. The picture is less positive for the secondary sector which we will discuss later. A key challenge in relation to recruitment is the relatively late confirmation of our intake targets. Typically, we are given a heads up around Christmas each year but it can be as late as March before controlled numbers are confirmed in a recruitment cycle in

Agenda item 1 ES/S5/17/15/2

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which the UCAS application deadline is 15 January and institutions are expected to make all of their offers by 31 March. The Scottish Council of Deans will be asking for this date of 15th January to be revisited so that we have an earlier deadline. In addition, when there is significant variation from year to year, it is difficult for us as a provider and employer to engage in our own internal workforce planning. We would like to work with the Scottish Government to move away from the current system, which sees targets change every year, toward setting targets for a three or five-year period, with minor changes negotiated each year as required. Sudden fluctuations such as the forthcoming reduction in PGDE Primary numbers for 2018-19, a predicted drop of 55%, will impact significantly on each teacher education provider. This does not assist stability or quality for the sector. The issue of the difficulty to recruit to some secondary subject areas is one that is shared by government, employers and teacher education providers. Government has attempted to address this shortage by widening routes into teaching. As a provider, we will continue to do our best to increase recruitment through more intensive marketing, adapting content to be more attractive to particular graduates and working in partnership with STEM subject areas within the University to enthuse primary and secondary pupils into these disciplines. The success of such initiatives will take time. We are, however, concerned that the current funding model and approach to target setting does not effectively encompass the step-change in costs as cohort sizes increase. For example, an increase in target intake from 20 to 25 would incur student-specific costs associated with additional placement, tutor and other support, whereas an increase to 27 would additionally require additional teaching rooms, recruitment of additional teaching staff and an expansion of marketing activities. In the event that recruitment does not fully achieve the extended target, claw back of funding for the unfilled places leaves the school carrying the “step-change” costs. Securing sufficient numbers of site-based learning opportunities for our students can be challenging. While we appreciate from next year (2017-18), schools will be asked to opt in rather than to opt out when offering placements, we remain concerned that not enough is being done to alert schools to this change of approach which may result in many last minute ‘opt outs’. We have had schools rescind placements at the very last minute often with no explanation. All of this causes a huge amount of work for university placement staff, increased anxiety and potentially a less than effective training experience for the student. Greater partnership and collaboration is required between university schools of education, government, teacher employers and subject associations so that pupils in schools can be systematically mentored, monitored, provided work place experience, summer schools and potentially scholarships to consider entry into subject shortage areas. We would be very keen to harness university wide resources, including those in the School of Education Teacher Education Partnership, to work with Government to pilot effective recruiting and mentoring strategies to ensure a route-to-teaching for pupils interested in shortage areas. One area that could be looked at is the GTCS requirements for English. For our MSc in Transformative Learning and Teaching commencing in September 2017, we successfully argued for teacher graduates to have Higher English by the time they exit

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rather than to have Higher English at the point of entry. The exception to this is for those entering the MSc to become teachers of English. With such rigid requirements at the point of entry, we are turning away non-UK students who hold a UK masters degree but whose High School diploma is not deemed equivalent to Higher English. To assist a greater diversity in the workforce, it would be helpful for university providers to apply individual assessment of English competency for the postgraduate stages of teacher education, particularly in relation to entry into the STEM subjects. It would also be helpful to have a nationally agreed entry equivalence across the institutions so that there is greater consistency between different admission bodies. This would reduce frustration for applicants. Another significant challenge in relation to teacher recruitment is the need to alter the demographics of Scotland’s teaching force. The workforce is recognized to be highly homogenous particularly in terms of gender (largely female), ethnicity (largely white) and in terms of language (largely monolingual). As with the issue of low recruitment to certain subject areas, a partnership approach is required to alter the demographics of the teaching workforce. A media appeal to under-represented groups is a start but such initiatives need to be accompanied with systematic advice and support to future applicants, not dissimilar to the suggestions made relating to subject shortage areas. In addition, there needs to be sustained work done on changing the ethos and culture of workplaces that have for too long been used to homogeneity. This is neither a swift nor easy process. There needs to be dialogue with teachers (presently and formerly in the system) from under-represented groups to seek advice on how to develop an inclusive environment so that those who are in minority groups are not ‘othered’ in subliminal ways on an everyday basis. Part of changing ethos and culture has to include consideration of how daily micro-invalidations occur that might discourage people from joining and staying in the profession. From our experience, nothing works more effectively as a barrier than negative word-of-mouth advice by under-represented groups who have not felt supported in the profession. In relation to Q4, in our post-graduate Primary and Secondary programmes, we find that only around 2% choose to delay their studies or withdraw from their studies. This has typically been for the following reasons: pre-existing mental health issues, increased insight into the teaching profession and observations of the challenges of behaviour management, wider responsibilities than previously imagined, more intensive workload at university than expected, students becoming disillusioned with what they see to be compromised and highly variable classroom and school based practice e.g. ‘I just don’t want to be like that teacher or to work in a school like that..’. Students express concern as to the flexibility or otherwise of being able to choose a ‘good fit’ school should they find themselves in a school ethos which does not chime with their professional values. Dr Rowena Arshad OBE Head of School of Education

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Moray Council Teacher Workforce Planning Inquiry: Moray What are the main challenges in relation to teacher recruitment and retention? The main challenge in Moray is the general availability of people coming forward to apply for posts at all levels within the system, with some posts being re-advertised on several occasions and still only attracting a very small number of applicants (frequently below five and often zero). There are particular difficulties in relation to the availability of supply teachers and we have seen significant reductions in the availability of supply cover. Vacancies at present are most acute in primary, with significant Head Teacher vacancies and substantive postholders now fully committed to classroom teaching and no capacity for further cover or school improvement/ leadership across the sector. There are serious concerns in relation to recruiting certain subject specialisms in secondary schools, particularly in the STEM subjects, Home Economics and Modern Languages and there are serious risks to attainment in national examinations as a result of this.. Do you have views or insight into the process for recruiting the right number

of teachers to satisfy the demand for teachers in Scotland’s schools (including the availability of up to date information such as on supply and demand)?

Considering that only six years ago, there were schools receiving between 20 and 200 applications for teaching posts and there seemed to be a limitless availability of supply cover in Moray, something has clearly gone drastically wrong. The teacher numbers agreement has done nothing to help as some local authorities report an excess of teachers, whilst not being able to “release” them in order to maintain their ratio. Furthermore, additional money in the system through the Scottish Attainment Challenge has resulted in some local authorities vastly over-recruiting, leading to a smaller pool of applicants for other, permanent basic statutory provision, vacancies. To that end, whilst the Scottish Government has increased the number of teachers in training, there have also been additional posts created in some areas, so supply is still not meeting demand and more rural and remote areas feel the greatest impact of this. We have evidence in Moray of applicants accepting posts in our schools only to turn it down days later because they have been offered a post in a more “central” location, at times turning down a permanent role for a temporary one due to location. Another factor in rural areas with a significant number of inefficient small rural schools is one of effective and efficient deployment of staff. It is the case in certain areas, that there are actually enough teachers, but they are working in unsustainable small schools, teaching very small classes. A vacancy factor needs to be taken into account in the national planning formulae and the allocation of probationers weighted to those areas with very high level of unfilled teacher posts. What are the factors that influence whether teaching is considered an

attractive profession compared to other professions by those that might consider a career in teaching?

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There are a number of factors which seem to deter people from entering a career in teaching. Whilst the McCrone Agreement resulted in improved salary scales, particularly for graduates at that time (in 2001), graduate pay has now slipped behind other professions and the workload associated with teaching has also increased exponentially in recent years. Since the start of Curriculum for Excellence reforms in 2004, there appears to have been an incessant period of change which has resulted in many people feeling confused about the core business of learning and teaching and we have succeeded as a profession in over-complicating our work. Considering one of the major elements of CFE was to declutter the system, we have actually re-cluttered it and then added some more to it and this has had a significant effect on the perception of teaching among those who may have considered it as a viable career option. Secondly, whilst parental engagement and participation is central to improving educational outcomes for young people, the increased demands which appear to be placed on teachers, and the added scrutiny and challenge they face from parents has also led people to question whether this is something they wish to encounter in their professional lives, particularly the increase in “teacher attacks” on social media, being something all local authorities are increasingly having to contend with and it does appear to be putting people off entering the profession. Whilst it is acknowledged that accountability is essential in the system, it is very much being seen as a deterrent at present. Are there patterns or key reasons why some trainee teachers do not complete

courses, or do not choose to go into teaching having qualified? The reasons behind this are complex. Many graduates report that they leave the profession because they are unable to secure permanent posts. The reality is that they are unable to secure permanent posts in certain parts of the country and many are unwilling, or indeed unable, to relocate to where the posts exist. Equally, having undertaken their training and their NQT year, some teachers decide that teaching is not for them, often as a result of some of the reasons cited earlier in this response. Finally, teacher training can often be overwhelming for students as ITE providers try to cram a great deal into the training year (for one year) PGDE courses. This can result in the training being very hurried and not fully preparing trainee teachers for life in the classroom. Within the Northern Alliance, we believe that we can work more collaboratively on the whole “pipeline” of teacher recruitment and education, both initially and throughout their career, and feel this should be reviewed. There is scope for this to be done on a regional basis in partnership with universities and local authorities and should be developed as a matter of urgency, with national oversight and funding delivered locally. The teaching shortages are also impacting on those choosing not to go into teaching, many have had placements in schools where there are a high number of vacancies and they are observing high pressure environments, with teachers covering classes regularly and little of any time for planning, professional development and support. This has an adverse impact on their view of a career in teaching. A regional professional development strategy could be developed across each region to address professional learning, deliver training locally and provide teacher professional learning. This mode would support national policy and delivery and ensure layered delivery of policy across Scotland. This model could include partners from

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national agencies, local providers and institutions thus reducing overlap and creating a more effective tailored model of professional learning. What is the impact of teacher shortages in certain parts of Scotland or in

specific disciplines? The impact is significant and Moray can cite an increase in parental complaints, poorer behaviour being reported in schools and an increase in exclusions as well as lower reported levels of parental satisfaction with schools. We also have evidence of poorer inspection reports being published and an impact on levels of attainment and achievement. Centrally based staff are also being used regularly to cover vacancies and to run schools and this is taking them away from their core duties of supporting schools and securing improvements in performance. Given the size of the national agenda at present, this will undoubtedly have a negative impact on system improvement and pace of change. Children and young people only have one chance at school and at present there are serious risks that the lack of teachers in the system is resulting in us not getting it right for every child at what are crucial times in their educational and social development. The National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education sets an ambitious agenda for schools and local authorities and the focus on attainment is welcome. However, there are risks around capacity to deliver. How effective are the various approaches taken to cover shortages of

teachers in schools? In Moray we have taken a variety of measures to cover teacher shortages including use of centrally based staff, encouraging retired staff to sign up to the supply register and supporting programmes such as DLITE to encourage people to retrain as teachers.. On very rare occasions, classes have had to be sent home due to a lack of cover. We developed an agreement with a local housing developer to offer six month rent free accommodation and this attracted much publicity for the area. We have also worked in partnership with “new” providers such as UHI who are now training a small cohort of secondary teachers locally in addition to the primary PGDE programme they have offered for a number of years. Whilst these have all helped to varying degrees, they are largely short term and are not addressing the systemic issue which is a lack of teachers, particularly in rural and “remote” areas. These are all short term fixes and a more strategic and systemic solution is needed. Within Moray we wrote to every parent in the authority asking them if they knew of anyone interested in coming to teach in Moray and we received over 160 responses. Of these, 10 resulted in a positive outcome. We have also used our relationship with the MoD, via RAF Lossiemouth and Kinloss Barracks to trial the GTCS conditional/provisional registration programme which allowed us to recruit some more teachers. However, due to the nature of military postings, this is always a short term fix. What factors influence teachers deciding whether to stay in the profession or

to leave? and What factors influence teachers when deciding whether or not to apply for

promotion to senior management/headteacher level?

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Teachers cite a wide variety of reasons for opting to leave the profession, including salary, workload, a flat career progression structure, increased parental expectations and demands, standards of student behaviour, pace of change, initiative overload and others besides. In terms of applying for promoted posts, anecdotal evidence would suggest that the flaws in teacher job sizing is a major factor. Many teachers report that taking on a promoted post is simply not worth the additional workload and stress for relatively modest financial gain. Many teachers report witnessing the hours their Head Teachers work and the issues and complaints they deal with and they feel this is not something which appeals to them. To provide some context, the table below provides information with regards vacancies in Moray over the past four years; 2013 2014 2015 2016

Primary teachers 67 77 76 94

Secondary teachers 65 75 56 77

Primary PTs 0 0 0 14

ASN teachers 8 27 17 23

Primary DHTs 0 0 16 5

Secondary DHTs 4 2 3 2

Primary HTs 0 7 12 9

Secondary HTs 0 0 2 2

It should also be noted that between 2012 and 2015, supply teacher numbers decreased as follows; Primary 230 to 125 Secondary 162 to 97 Learned Societies’ Group on Scottish STEM Education TEACHER WORKFORCE PLANNING FOR SCOTLAND’S SCHOOLS: a response from the Learned Societies’ Group on STEM Education to the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee The Learned Societies’ Group on Scottish STEM Education (LSG)1 brings together the learned societies and professional associations with a focus on the provision of STEM education at school. We are pleased that the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee is considering teacher recruitment and retention. Teacher workforce planning has been a prominent area of interest for the LSG, especially as it is clear that schools are experiencing significant challenges in the recruitment of specialist teachers in the sciences and in mathematics. In this response we provide an outline of the key issues relating to teacher workforce planning in the STEM areas. We should be pleased to discuss our response with the Education and Skills Committee.

1 More information about the LSG is available from: https://www.rse.org.uk/policy/standing-committees/learned-

societies-group/

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Need for improved data to inform teacher workforce planning While the Scottish Government publishes annually the Teacher Census, this does not provide a clear picture of teacher need either in subjects or in different localities. In 2010 the Scottish Government discontinued the annual report on vacancy statistics for teachers. The UK Government Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has recently reported2 on teacher shortages across the UK. It states that ‘there is very limited data to draw on to assess the shortage of teachers by subject in Scotland’. The LSG firmly believes that there is a need for improved data on teacher shortages and vacancies in Scotland in order to support accurate teacher workforce planning. Data should be collected on a regular basis and made publicly available. Other sources have helped to shine a light on STEM teacher supply issues in Scotland: The Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group (TWPAG) Report (2013)3 shows

that Computing, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics are among the subjects with the lowest teacher replenishment rates. The TWPAG group surveyed local authorities in 2012/13 in order to gather information on secondary vacancies, including looking at relative need across subjects. It is worth noting that the true vacancy rate will be masked by ‘hidden vacancies’ i.e. where schools do not advertise for a post because they know it will not be filled.

Computing At School Scotland (CASS) collected data in 20164 showing that secondary schools are experiencing a severe shortfall in Computing Science (CS) teachers. There has been a 25% decline in the number of CS teachers in the past 10 years and CASS reported that 17% of secondary schools do not have a specialist CS teacher.

The recently published Scottish Government and CoSLA joint submission5 to the MAC provides local authorities’ feedback on teacher recruitment challenges. This includes difficulties recruiting to remote and rural locations in Scotland. STEM teacher shortages feature prominently.

It will be important to consider the availability of supply teachers given that they are crucial to providing necessary flex in the system. A survey6 conducted by the Supply Teachers Review Group of the Scottish Negotiation Committee for Teachers (SNCT) found that all of the 28 respondent local authorities reported that obtaining sufficient supply cover for secondary school subject specialist teachers was either ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’. The sciences, mathematics, computing and technical education were identified as areas of particular

2 Partial Review of Teacher Shortages in the UK; Migration Advisory Committee; January 2017

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-mac-report-teacher-shortages- in-the-uk 3 Report of the Teacher Workforce Planning Working Group; December 2013

http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/FILES/about-gtcs/dual-reg-consultation-report-of-the-twpwg.pdf 4 Computing Science Teachers in Scotland 2016; Computing at School Scotland

http://www.cas.scot/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ComputingTeachersinScotland-CASSReport2016.pdf 5 Scottish Government and CoSLA joint response to the MAC; October 2016

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00516454.pdf 6 Supply Teachers Review Group Survey (2015)

http://www.snct.org.uk/library/2162/Supply%20Teachers%20Review%20Group%20Recommendations.pdf

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shortage. In order to try to better match supply with demand, particularly in subjects which have traditionally been under-recruited (including Chemistry, Computing, Mathematics and Physics), since 2014/15 Scotland’s initial teacher education (ITE) providers have been set subject specific targets for student teacher recruitment. The annual teacher workforce planning exercise undertaken by Scottish Government and a range of partners leads to the setting of student teacher intake targets. The aim is to set intake targets for each individual secondary subject towards replenishing the teaching workforce at an equal rate across all subjects. The table below sets out the target and actual intake figures for the sciences and mathematics for Secondary PGDE courses in 2015-16 and 2016-17. It is positive to note that the intake exceeded the targets for Chemistry and Physics in 2016. However, this needs to be seen in the context of long- term shortfalls in the recruitment of STEM teachers, which may well have suppressed expectations and demand for the future. While this focuses on intake numbers, with a view to ensuring accurate workforce planning it will be important that data is collected on how many of the ITE entrants complete their courses and enter the teaching profession. Subject 2015-16

Student Teacher Intake Target

2015-16 Student Teacher Actual Intake

Percentage Difference between 2015-16 target and actual intake

2016-17 Student Teacher Intake Target

2016-17 Student Teacher Actual Intake

Percentage Difference between 2016-17 target and actual intake

Biology 88 81 -8 % 91 86 -5 % Chemistry 69 57 -17 % 75 81 +8 % Computing 37 20 -46 % 52 41 -21 % Maths 146 76 -48 % 179 128 -28 % Physics 54 38 -30 % 60 61 +2 % Techno-logical Education

58 35 -40 % 86 47 -45 %

In its report, STEMEC7 recommended that the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group should publish a five-year rolling programme of intake target numbers in order to provide confidence to individuals and institutions in planning and implementation. Key Factors affecting STEM teacher recruitment and retention in Scotland include: There is a shortage of STEM graduates across a wide range of sectors,

including teaching. This places an emphasis on the need to support young people’s (and their families) STEM aspirations from the earliest years in order to build the ‘science capital’ required8.

STEM graduates are in high demand from employers. The case for teaching as a

7 Recommendation 13; STEMEC Final Report; 2016 https://beta.gov.scot/publications/stemec-report-2016/

8 See the King’s College London ‘ASPIRES’ research work:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/ASPIRES/Index.aspx

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career therefore needs to be compelling given the competition it faces. However, compared to many industry sectors, teaching does not have a high profile on university campuses. The Scottish Government is attempting to address this having recently launched ‘Teaching Makes People’, a campaign targeted at encouraging STEM undergraduates into teaching. The Government has also recently announced 11 new routes to get teachers into the classroom, including for priority STEM subjects. We recommend that the campaign and the new routes into teaching be evaluated so that their impact can be fully understood.

School structures, notably the move away from principal subject teachers in favour of faculty heads, are reducing opportunities for career progression. The OECD highlighted the need for a clear career structure that grows the teaching profession.

The relatively low starting and continuing salaries compared with many other STEM careers could act as a strong disincentive to teaching. The financial impact on career changers is potentially even greater, yet this group will be vital if recruitment targets are to be met.

Teachers of the sciences and mathematics have expressed concern that curriculum reform has been undertaken with little input from the teaching profession, thus impacting on morale and teachers’ professional status9. Connected to this is the issue of retaining teachers at a time of increasing

concern over workload. Research10 has indicated that on average teachers in Scotland work 49 hours a week. Shortages also increase workload for those already in post. There is also the related challenge of promoting teaching as a career to potential recruits during a period of education change that has drawn adverse media and political coverage.

In essence, raising teachers’ professional status is key to addressing teacher shortages, with teacher professional status and supply being fundamentally linked. If the status of the profession was to be raised and teaching was to be well-marketed to undergraduates, this would undoubtedly attract a larger number of high quality, subject-specialist candidates, and improve retention. High-quality initial teacher education and career-long professional development, including that which is subject-specific, are key components.

NASUWT The NASUWT welcomes the opportunity to provide information to the Education and Skills Committee on the recruitment and retention of teachers for Scotland’s schools. The Union is uniquely placed to provide a current, evidence based contribution to this debate both in Scotland and with comparative data across the UK nations. The NASUWT conducts a yearly survey of members in each individual nation to develop a unique picture of teacher morale, priorities and retention challenges.

9 An Analysis prepared by TMP of the challenges facing the Scottish Government’s initiatives to increase the

recruitment of STEM based teachers (January 2015) https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/plnetwork/files/2015/03/1069159-Scottish-Government-A3-doc.pdf

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The NASUWT Big Question 2016 was the 6 consecutive year that the NASUWT has carried out a detailed survey of members in Scotland. In terms of recruitment and retention, amongst a number of deeply concerning statistics, 65% of respondents said they would not recommend teaching as a career. What are the main challenges in relation to teacher recruitment and retention? The NASUWT is clear that the current recruitment and retention problems being experienced in Scotland are not limited to, or unique to, Scotland and many of the same issues impact on recruitment and retention elsewhere in the UK and more widely. However, there are specific factors which impact on each nation and this response addresses the issues in Scotland specifically which the Scottish Government has the ability to address or ameliorate. The first issue impacting on both recruitment and retention is rates of pay. Teachers’ pay in Scotland is not commensurate to those of other graduate professions and this has been exacerbated by average pay increases, such as in 2014, where the average increase for graduates in other professions was 3.3% whilst in teaching it was 1%. There has been a 15.1% real terms drop in salary for teachers in Scotland since 2010. The NASUWT Big Question 2016 found that 75% of teachers believe that people are put off a career in teaching because of pay and that 88% of teachers do not think that teaching is competitive with other professions. There is a lack of professional standing and respect for teaching as a career compared to other professions. The teaching profession is regularly subject to negative portrayal in the media and often used by politicians to score cheap political points. Another major barrier to both recruitment and retention is excessive workload. Whilst the profession is clear about the excessive workload it is also now clear to parents, carers, pupils and local communities that teacher workload has spiralled out of control. This has been accepted in published documents, such as the Working Group on Tackling Bureaucracy reports, but has not been successfully addressed. Eighty-five per cent of respondents to the NASUWT Big Question 2016 cited excessive workload as their number one concern about their job; 62% of teachers have considered quitting teaching altogether in the last year; and 84% of teachers have experienced more workplace stress in the last 12 months. The decrease in interest in teaching as a career is likely to be exacerbated in the next few years. Pupils who are now choosing their university career paths have spent their whole secondary education during the implementation of ideologically driven austerity policies and have witnessed the increase in workload that their teachers have had to endure at the same time as pay has been cut. Pupils have also personally witnessed the failings of the implementation of the presumption of mainstream at the same time as support services have been cut and teacher numbers reduced. In addition, these pupils have painful first-hand experience of the often chaotic implementation of the new qualifications. These factors alone are unlikely to make teaching an attractive proposition to the next generation of would be educators. The NASUWT cannot identify any clear evidence that teaching is promoted as a viable career choice. The profile of teaching as a career does not appear to be regularly or

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successfully highlighted in schools, universities or in the media, particularly media platforms used by young people in Scotland. One example would be careers fairs held in schools, promoting and advising on careers in the public, private, third sectors and the armed forces but rarely, if at all, is teaching featured at such events. What is the impact of teacher shortages in certain parts of Scotland or in specific disciplines? In addition to the factors affecting recruitment across Scotland, there are also specific recruitment and retention issues impacting on particular areas. These include the increased cost of living in Edinburgh and the inflated cost of living in the Aberdeen area due to the oil industry. Recruitment and retention in isolated rural communities is a specific problem due to a number of factors which local councils will be well placed to set out. These include: the migration of young people to urban centres where the main university campuses are located; the poor provision of deregulated and profit-driven public transport infrastructure in rural areas; and the shortage of suitable affordable accommodation. That said, while there are hotspots, the position is such that barriers to recruitment and retention exist across the country and should be addressed on a system-wide basis. This is not simply a case of targeting more money in one or two places. The NASUWT suggests that more exploration of how teacher shortages can be addressed across the whole nation is required. Are there patterns or key reasons why some trainees do not complete courses or do not choose to go into teaching having qualified? Teaching is a uniquely challenging occupation. Balancing the learning and emotional needs of 30 unique individuals at any one time whilst maintaining professional expertise in a subject area is a significant challenge. There are therefore an inevitable amount of students and even probationers who, through the process of their training course and placements, realise that teaching is not the long term profession for them. Too many Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers do not think about the management of students’ workload. ITE programmes are often characterised by needlessly detailed planning and record-keeping requirements that increase burdens and force many students, particularly those with family or caring responsibilities, to drop out. The information that we get from our student members indicates issues such as the university not supporting students who are having difficulties in school placements for fear of upsetting the school or local authority. Where student members have had negative experiences in early placements, this has in turn negatively impacted on their motivation to enter the teaching profession. Another factor is that a number of newly qualified teachers choose to work abroad after induction for the higher salaries and opportunity to travel, so are lost to the Scottish system. In addition, whilst there is the opportunity to undertake teacher training on a part-time or distance learning basis, there is currently no option to undertake the induction

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scheme on a part-time basis which will lead to individuals either self-excluding or dropping out. The flexible route does not satisfactorily counter this as the support mechanisms on the induction scheme are not available and the additional 80 working days required to reach the Standard for Registration remain as obstacles to allowing fully registered teachers to access part-time working in order to balance personal commitments with their workload. How effective are the various approaches taken to cover shortages of teachers in schools? The NASUWT believes that it is essential to end the discrimination in relation to supply teachers’ pay and conditions introduced in 2011. There is no doubt that the creation of a two-tier workforce has led to huge difficulty in covering teacher shortages. In many areas, schools rely on the goodwill of teachers to cover shortages, in some cases beyond the cover agreement of the employer. This cannot continue and better approaches require to be identified, and funded, to address the issue. Do you have views or insight into the process for recruiting the right number of teachers to satisfy the demand for teachers in Scotland’s schools? The NASUWT has concerns that the data available is not robust, nor easily accessible to policymakers. The Union would call for a review of the way in which teacher workforce data is collected and reported to address this concern. The NASUWT would be delighted to attend the Education and Skills Committee evidence sessions to discuss this response in more detail. Chris Keates (Ms) General Secretary