Responding to the publication of the report of the NFER on how the Government can meet its teacher recruitment targets, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“This report adds to the mounting evidence that the teaching profession is in the midst of a crisis of recruitment and retention. In the last year 40,000 teachers have left the profession.

“Under the previous government, teachers’ pay has fallen by as much as 30% in real terms and the Conservatives failed to deliver on the measures needed to recruit and retain the teachers our children and young people need.

“The Labour Government has the opportunity to secure a New Deal for Teachers by delivering the world-class working conditions needed to restore teaching as the profession of first choice for UK graduates.

“A National Commission on Teachers’ Pay should be tasked with examining the case for a renewed national pay framework that will ensure that more graduates choose and stay in teaching.”