Commenting on the NFER’s Teacher Labour Market Annual Report, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“This report further underlines the mounting challenges for the Government in addressing teacher numbers and meeting its commitment of recruiting 6,500 new teachers.

“This report underlines our calls for a national workforce plan to deliver a strategic approach to delivering the improvements needed to pay, workload, pupil behaviour and other working conditions which are essential to tackling the factors currently deterring graduates from choosing a career in teaching and pushing existing teachers to leave the profession.

“We have set out in detailed evidence to the pay review body the case for a real-terms pay rise for teachers and leaders, fully funded by Government, along with improvements to working conditions in order to address the attractiveness and competitiveness of teaching as a long-term career.

“The government can be in no doubt that a failure to deliver on pay and working conditions will only lead to a further decline in teacher numbers and a deterioration in the quality of education provided to children and young people.”