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Today we're launching a new initial teacher training strategy and this video explains
why. Education in this country has improved; we have some excellent teachers, but the truth
is that other nations are racing ahead. Let's look at the statistics about who is being
recruited into teaching. South Korea recruits teachers from the top five percent of graduates.
Finland from the top ten percent, but only two percent of the highest achieving graduates
from our top universities train to become teachers within six months of graduating.
Good teaching is the most important thing a school can do for its pupils. Their progress
will depend more on the quality of teaching than on anything else. An eight-year-old taught
by a top-performing teacher can make as much as two years additional progress by the time
to reach 11 compared to a pupil with a low-performing teacher. We also don't recruit enough of the
high-quality maths and science teachers we need. The institute of physics has said we
need to recruit around a thousand new specialist physics teachers each year for fifteen years
to plug the gap. Last year we recruited around 260 fewer trainees to physics initial teacher
training courses and 80 fewer chemistry trainees than we needed. Last year we met the mathematics
target, but only just… and for the first time ever.
Excellent teachers are worth the costs of investment in training many times over in
the difference they make to children's achievement at school and the economy. We spend around
five hundred million pounds each year on the initial training of teachers. It’s vital
we get the highest quality teacher possible for every pound of spending. Right now the
sums we spend don't add up. We can do better.
We have a vision to bring world class teaching to classrooms across the country and we'll
do this by attracting the best graduates with incentives of up to £20,000 for the top talent,
setting the bar high to make sure new teachers all have sound English, maths and subject
knowledge, getting our schools working with world-class universities to provide a first-rate
training, giving new teachers more opportunity to learn by working side by side with inspiring
experienced teachers and giving trained teachers the opportunity to compete for scholarships
to deepen and widen their subject knowledge. With these changes, we can help create the
world-class education children deserve.