§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures are in place to improve teacher retention rates. [68519]
§ Mr. MilibandMy right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills set out our plans to transform the school work force in her speech of last November to the Social Market Foundation. These plans directly address the key issues that we know teachers are most concerned about-work load, bureaucracy, professional development and status. 30 Pathfinder schools are testing different approaches for making improvements, and we will use the lessons learned to help the whole school work force nationwide. The number of teachers in our schools has already increased by more than 20,000 since 1997, and the number of support staff by more than 70,000.