Labour fury over 600,000 kids taught by unqualified teachers
2 min read
Labour has blasted the Government after it emerged that more than 600,000 children are being taught by an ever-increasing army of unqualified teachers.
The latest figures show there were 24,000 teachers in state-funded schools in 2016 who may lack training in classroom management and the latest developments in their subject areas.
That number has risen from 14,800 in 2012 - when the coalition government first removed the requirement for state-school teachers to be qualified - a climb of 62%.
Shadow Schools Minister Mike Kane said: “The Government have completely failed in their most basic of tasks and are clearly relying on unqualified teachers to plug the gaps.
“Unqualified teachers have no guaranteed training in safeguarding children, controlling a class or adapting teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils.
“But under the Tories, they’re responsible for the education of hundreds of thousands of our children.”
He added: “There is nothing more important to a good education than excellent teaching.
“The Tories’ failure on teacher recruitment is putting school standards at risk and it’s our children who will pay for their mess.”
The average class size is 25 pupils, suggesting more than 613,000 were being taught by unqualified teachers last year, Labour said.
A report by the Education Select Committee earlier this year said the Government had missed its teacher recruitment targets for the last five years.
It added that in 2016/17 the number of graduates starting initial teacher training fell.
A Department for Education spokesperson said overall teacher numbers were at a record high.
“The number of teachers overall has risen by 3.5 per cent since 2010 and the proportion of qualified teachers in schools remains high.
“Nine out of ten schools are rated good or outstanding and we have record number of teachers in our classrooms - 95 per cent of which hold qualified teacher status.
“The rest include some trainees working towards their professional qualifications as well as experts, such as leading scientists, sports people or musicians, who head teachers think can add value to individual lessons and enrich the learning experience for children.”
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