§ 76. Sir George YoungTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will produce figures for teacher shortages for each of the past five years; and what further steps he plans to take to reduce such shortages in the future.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthVacancies for teachers in England and the proportion of teachers in service that they represent are as follows:
The Government have implemented a range of measures to combat teacher shortages including: publicity 169W and advertising campaigns spearheaded by the Teaching as a Career Unit; the £1,300 bursary for trainee teachers of shortage subjects; and in-service training for existing teachers of shortage subjects. Over two years from April we shall be supporting expenditure of £4 million in 45 local education authorities to improve the recruitment of mature new entrants and returners. We shall continue and reinforce our range of measures.
§ 101. Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the latest estimates of teacher shortages within and without London; and what action he intends to take.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthI refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend gave on 21 December 1989 to the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) at columns353–55.
We shall continue to support and develop the range of measures we have taken since 1986 to improve teacher supply. These include new initial and in-service training courses; the establishment of the Teaching as a Career Unit (TASC) to undertake national advertising and publicity; taster courses for mature people considering a career change; education support grant provision for local initiatives to attract mature entrants and former serving teachers; the licensed and articled teachers schemes; and bursaries for initial teacher training students on shortage subject courses.
In addition we are supporting a London-wide recruitment campaign with funding of £159,000 in 1989–90.