Teachers: Graduates
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to work (a) Teach First and (b) other school led partnerships to place additional high calibre graduates into schools in low income communities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Evidence shows that high-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor that improves outcomes for children. The department has reformed initial teacher training and the early career induction to ensure that children in every area of England benefit from high-quality teaching. The High Potential Initial Teacher Training Programme, currently delivered by Teach First, recruits high-quality candidates specifically for placement in schools serving low-income communities to help improve outcomes for pupils. We are making the post-graduate teaching apprenticeship route easier to deliver for schools, helping us to better meet candidate demand across the country, including in lower income areas.
Work is already underway to deliver on our pledge to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers. The workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time employed staff between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. Our future schoolteacher pipeline is also growing. As of June 2025, there are 12% more trainees who have accepted offers to train as secondary teachers, and in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, acceptances are up 25% compared to last year.
The Teaching Regulation Agency has no responsibility in determining initial teacher training placement provision.
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