As a Multi-Academy Trust, Aldridge Education’s two key missions are to bring learning to life, and to leave no one behind. So, by definition, we are of course in step with the new Government’s drive to recruit 6,500 new teachers. 

Teachers are, after all, the lifeblood of our education system. It might be a cliché, but - as with many cliches - it’s because it is true. Our teachers are role models, trusted adults, life-shapers. They inspire and nurture, create and coach. No one is ever ‘just’ a teacher; they genuinely have the power to change lives, in their classrooms and beyond. It is a unique position of influence to occupy in a learner’s life.  

So absolutely, we support the desire to have more teachers in more of our schools, delivering the best possible education to our children. But we urge the new Secretary of State for Education to consider, in her early days of converting promise to plan, what it will take to achieve that manifesto pledge.  Previous administrations have aimed for the same thing…  We believe that what we need more of, alongside teachers, are some practical changes. 

At Aldridge, we talk to our teachers every day about their experiences – about why they teach, what's working and, in honest conversations, about what's not. A number of us in the central trust team, myself included, spent years as teachers and principals, and some of our core work is around recruiting and training teachers. What is clear to us is that there are several strands of work needed to really revolutionise teacher recruitment for the better.  Nothing surprising, just basic alignment of pledge and practice.  We need to smooth the paths of the routes into teaching,  increase exposure to teaching as a profession and we need to really value our mentors.   

Nothing seismic or dramatic. Just straightforward, common sense, applied intentionally to streamline processes, unpick some confusing policies, and genuinely demonstrate to our future and current teachers that we value the development of a great workforce. 

Firstly, what we're seeing is that it's not the case that people don't want to train to teach - it's that they can't afford to. For example, there are plenty of potentially strong teachers applying to train with us who have a 3rd in their degree: they do not qualify for a bursary at all.  To be a teacher you need a degree  - yet people with a 3rd cannot access a bursary. Why is that? There are no bursaries available for some subjects and we really need Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses to have their funding reinstated. And procedurally, the student finance deadline is mid-May, yet trainees can still be recruited until July.  They won’t join if they can’t get their finance in place - so wouldn't it make sense to change the deadline?  All of these things are causing us to lose trainees who have expressed interest in training to teach. 

Secondly, we need teacher training to be seen as a prestigious route and to gain greater exposure nationally.  We welcome the resumption and expansion of the Every Lesson Shapes a Life campaign but why don’t we take it further?  What if every undergraduate course required a school encounter with a school local to the university campus?  Undergraduates visiting schools to run a workshop or participate in a lesson on a subject aligned to their degree studies?  We assume that everyone understands school from their own school experience - but what about engaging with school as the teacher?  And the mentors for our trainees need to see the high calling of their role – what about a fully-funded NPQ for mentors?  A commensurate pay uplift for mentors?  Sufficient time funded to do the job?  We need our experienced teachers to want to mentor, to see mentoring recognised as a high calling in our sector. 

This is what we’re advocating for: some uncommon common sense and small but meaningful changes that show we understand what it will take to achieve our shared ambitions for teacher recruitment.  

Jane Fletcher, CEO, Aldridge Education