It would be “nonsensical” to include primary teachers in Labour’s 6,500 new teachers target at a time when their pupil numbers are falling, the education secretary has said amid criticism over the sector’s exclusion from the pledge.
The party pledged in its manifesto to “recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers”.
But after being elected, the government clarified the new teachers would be in “key subjects” at secondary and college level only. It then dropped the “key subjects” element and confirmed the teachers would not all be new.
To make matters more confusing, the government’s plan for change in December referred to the pledge a “first step” in a section about how it would achieve its plans to boost primary school readiness.
‘Farcical’
During education questions today, shadow education secretary Laura Trott pressed Bridget Phillipson to “explain how secondary school teacher recruitment contributes to improving primary school readiness for four year olds.
Describing the situation as “farcical”, she called on Phillipson to “finally admit that the original 6,500 teacher pledge did include primary school teachers, and they are now abandoning that pledge”.
But Phillipson pointed to recent government figures, which showed there were around 60,000 fewer primary pupils as of January than the year before.
“It would be nonsensical to recruit even more primary in a situation where we have falling rolls. We are focusing our efforts where they are needed.
“And that’s why I’m delighted that we’re seeing big increases in secondary maths teachers and secondary physics teachers, in secondary STEM teachers as well. Right across the board, big increases, that’s what Labour.”
Phillipson swerved questions about the “key subjects” part of the target, which was left out by government when it recently confirmed its plans.
DfE ‘tried to have it every which way’
Damian Hinds, the former education secretary and schools minister, said the government “has tried to have it every which way on these elusive 6,500 extra teachers”, and called on the government to list the subjects.
Phillipson pointed to “big increases in initial teacher training acceptances in many of those key subjects, like maths and science.
“But where it comes to the commitment that we have made, we have 60,000 fewer children in primary over the course of the last year. The gentleman, as a former holder of this office, would rightly expect that we target our efforts in areas of greatest need.
“And sadly, at the moment, in our primary schools, we’re seeing a big decline in the number of children in primary with the numbers forecast to fall by another 165,000 over the next few years. We are focusing our efforts where they are needed.”
‘We’ll improve SEND legal right’
Phillipson was also questioned repeatedly about government reforms to the system of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), amid speculation the government could scrap or restrict education, health and care plans.
The education secretary told MPs that “children with SEND have a legal right to additional support. We will not just protect it. We will improve it. We will deliver better outcomes and support for children with SEND”.
She added that “what we have at the moment isn’t working by any objective measure.
“Children being failed, parents being failed, and it falls to this Labour government to deliver the better system of support that all of our children with SEND desperately need.”
She also said all MPs “all of us, have a responsibility in how we approach this, and we do have a responsibility not to cause undue alarm amongst parents who are currently experiencing a system that isn’t working, that is too adversarial”.
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