Schools offered £1,900 to bring ex-teachers back for EBacc subjects

The scheme has been launched by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) and is part of a government drive to recruit ‘returner teachers’.
    
According to NCTL data, there are currently 337,600 qualified teachers in England who are not currently working in state funded schools. The scheme looks to encourage these teachers into state schools, which can offer a ‘package of support’ for teachers in English, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, modern languages, history and geography. Computing science is not included.
    
Schools can enrol up to 40 ex-teachers, with the programme beginning in spring 2016.
    
Education statistician John Howson criticised the pilot for limiting funding to EBacc subjects, claiming this will not address a number of other subjects also suffering from teacher shortages.
    
He said: “There is really no shortage of history teachers, at least in the state sector, although I suppose they could be expected to teach key stage 3 humanities to relieve the looming shortage of geography teachers.
    
“And what of religious education, IT and music, all other non-EBacc subjects where there have been, are, or will be shortages? Don’t these subjects count in the curriculum anymore?”
    
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The number and quality of teachers in our classrooms is at an all-time high but as the economy strengthens we recognise that recruitment can be challenging – particularly in some areas of the country.
    
“From 2020 we will expect every young person to take the EBacc combination at GCSE, to ensure they’re studying the core subjects that will set them up for life. As part of guaranteeing all young people access to excellent teachers in these subjects we are supporting a number of schools to recruit up to 650 teachers to return to the classroom in September 2016.”

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