Calderdale teachers to get £2,000 extra a year as incentive to stay in profession

Teachers are being encouraged to stay on in their jobs

Early career maths and physics teachers in the North East, Yorkshire & the Humber and Opportunity Areas will receive the payments as an incentive to stay.

Department of Education figures show that 15 per cent of teachers who joined state schools in 2016 left after just one year.

The Government initiative announced today will further support teachers in the areas benefitting from the Government’s £72m Opportunity Area programme.

Backed by £10m investment set aside from last year’s Budget, the pilot will test a new way of incentivising maths and physics teachers to remain in the profession during the first five years of their career.

The scheme is based on evidence from the Gatsby Foundation and Education Policy Institute, which highlighted the potentially significant impact of such retention payments.

Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb, said: “Teaching remains a popular career, but we want to make sure that we can continue to attract and keep the brightest and best graduates,

particularly in subjects where specialist knowledge and expertise are vital to the future success of the economy.”

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss said: “Maths and science open doors to higher wages and better opportunities for pupils.

“Great teachers are, of course, crucial to the success of STEM lessons and this pilot will help schools recruit and retain the best staff.”

Nigel Thomas, executive director at the Gatsby Foundation, said: “We warmly welcome the Government’s announcement and have long advocated the use of modest salary supplements

to retain teachers in shortage-subject areas, where better paid opportunities exist outside of the profession.”

An investigation revealed more than 850 staff jobs were lost at schools across Yorkshire in 2017.

That total included 285 teaching posts and 95 teaching assistants, the September 2018 investigation found.

It also included loss of equivalent of 438 ‘auxiliary staff’ including technicians.

It left the region’s pupil-teacher ratio second highest in the country, with each Yorkshire teacher responsible for, on average, three more pupils in a class than teachers in Kensington.

Yorkshire has the country’s the lowest rate of experienced teachers, with just 15 per cent aged 50 or over.