Education secretary begins push to recruit 6,500 new teachers

Ms Phillipson says she wants to 'transform the image' of teaching

Bridget Phillipson has said no issues have "quick and easy solutions", in a letter to those working at all levels of education.

The new education secretary wrote to all staff, from early years to higher education, saying she wanted to "reset the relationship" with the sector.

The letter also marked the start of her work to recruit 6,500 new teachers, the Department for Education (DfE) said.

The work includes immediately resuming and expanding the teacher recruitment campaign Every Lesson Shapes a Life, the DfE said.

The scheme directs potential candidates to the Get Into Teaching website, where they can find support and advice from teacher training advisers, a contact centre and a national programme of events.

The DfE said Ms Phillipson would also meet union bosses and other education leaders in the coming days.

Labour pledged during the election campaign to make the recruitment of 6,500 teachers a priority of the new government.

The party said it would fund the new posts by adding tax to private school fees - although it is unclear exactly when this will happen.

The policy, proposed in Labour’s manifesto, has split opinion. Some argue it is a reasonable way to raise revenue while others think it is an unfair charge that will fall on parents.

Ms Phillipson said she wanted to put education "back at the forefront of national life" and "transform the image" of teaching.

The DfE said this was key to fixing the crisis in the recruitment and retention of teachers.

Ms Phillipson said writing to workforces on Monday was her "first priority".

She said the teaching profession had been "talked down, sidelined and denigrated" for too long.

In the letter, she said her commitment to education was "deeply personal" after growing up on a council estate where she considered herself "lucky" to go to "great local state schools".

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Teaching unions, who had strained relations with the previous government, culminating in several days of strikes last year, welcomed Ms Phillipson's message but called for urgent action on some issues.

“We recognise that none of these problems have quick and easy solutions. Nevertheless, those solutions must be found," Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said.

And there was an "urgent need" to address the "crisis" in special educational needs and disability (Send) due to "insufficient funding, staffing shortages, and complex bureaucratic processes".

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said he was looking forward to "starting a journey of renewal" with the new education secretary but called on her to immediately publish the government's pay offer to teachers for next year and address issues around workload.