17 JAN 2024

Government Initiatives to Boost Teacher Wellbeing and Recruitment

New measures to enhance recruitment and retention in the teaching profession have been announced by the government on Monday.

They include £1.5 million of new investment to deliver a three-year mental health and wellbeing support package for school and college leaders; providing professional supervision and counselling to at least 2,500 leaders.

The Government is also committing to publish new guidance for schools – expected to be completed this spring – on how to prevent and tackle bullying and harassment of school staff.

After extensive consultation with school leaders and teachers, the measures have been announced around the improvements they believe will ensure that teaching remains an attractive and rewarding profession.

Separately, the Workload Reduction Taskforce – a cross-cutting group made up of unions, teachers, and sector leaders –has agreed early recommendations to help reduce teacher workload and encourage education staff wellbeing to support the Department’s aim to reduce teachers’ and leaders’ working week by five hours within the next three years. The group will make final recommendations on how to address the wider causes of teacher and leader workload to government, Ofsted, and school and trust leaders in Spring 2024.

This builds on the Public Sector Productivity Programme led by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Chancellor, revealing huge opportunities to cut admin, safely harness Artificial Intelligence and deliver early interventions to relieve pressure on public services. 

Read the full article, along with the sector response via our friends at FE News