Labour Party proposes £2,400 incentives for early-career teachers in England as part of efforts to retain them in the profession and would reinstate the requirement for new teachers to have formal teaching qualifications.
The party’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, announced the plans to tackle the high attrition rates among new teachers on Sunday. According to government data, almost 20% of teachers who qualified in 2020 have already left the profession. The proposed payments would be awarded to teachers who completed the Early Career Framework training program during their first two years of teaching.
To fund the incentives, Labour plans to remove tax breaks for private schools and streamline the existing complex network of funds that provide financial incentives to teachers. The party aims to restore teaching as a respected and valued profession and drive high standards in schools. It’s important to note that education is a devolved issue, allowing Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to establish their own regulations.
The policy’s impact on private schools and their ability to recruit teachers without formal qualifications remains unclear.
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