Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 4 December (HL3456), what urgent action they are taking to remedy the shortage of male teachers and teaching assistants.

Lord Nash

We value diversity in the workforce but want the best people in the classroom, regardless of their gender; evidence shows that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in determining how well pupils achieve. We are pleased that the quality of entrants to initial teacher training, as measured by degree class, remains high, with 18 per cent of postgraduate entrants, a new record, holding a first-class degree. Recent figures show that 26 per cent of teachers in publicly funded schools in England are male. The proportion of men starting initial teacher training programmes in 2015/16 is 31 per cent. The proportion of entrants to the School Direct (salaried) scheme in 2015/16 who are male is 34 per cent.

Given this performance, the government does not feel that top-down targets for the recruitment of men into initial teacher training would be appropriate. Similarly, it is schools that employ teaching assistants and they are best placed to decide who are the most appropriate for that role regardless of gender.