TRR0048
Written evidence submitted by STEM Learning
STEM Learning is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving young people’s lives through the power of STEM. We believe that great STEM education builds knowledge and skills that are vital for everyone, leading to great career opportunities and enabling young people to become informed, thoughtful citizens who can help address extraordinary challenges and opportunities. For more on STEM Learning, see www.stem.org.uk and www.stem.org.uk/evidence/impactreport2022.pdf
Section 1: The current situation regarding teacher recruitment and retention
There are specific difficulties for teachers of STEM subjects, including teaching outside of specialism, subject knowledge gaps and self-efficacy
DfE’s School Snapshot Survey[1] shows that job satisfaction and workload create significant difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified teachers. This situation is exacerbated for teachers of science and computing with pressure on recruitment of specialist teachers whose skills and knowledge are in demand across the wider STEM sector and additional pressure on teacher retention as they often have to teach outside of their specialism.[2] Recent evidence from the Institute of Physics shows that 78% of GCSE science teachers are required to teach outside their specialism.[3]
There are also significant subject knowledge gaps amongst biology teachers. Although biology regularly meets (and exceeds) ITT recruitment targets, there are underlying issues around the breadth of subject knowledge required to teach biology well. Biology is broad and requires complex subject knowledge across a wide range of domains – including life science, a rapidly developing field crucial for innovation and the Government’s growth agenda. Yet school biology is frequently taught by non-specialists with degrees in subjects such as physical education and ecology who lack the breadth and depth of required subject knowledge in life science.
Another factor for retention issues in science, maths and computing teachers is their lower levels of self-efficacy in student engagement.[4] High-quality professional development, especially for early-career teachers is part of the solution, as it helps improve teachers’ self-efficacy, satisfaction and their likelihood of staying in teaching.
Teacher recruitment and retention is an acute issue for teachers of STEM subjects, worse than any other subject, and they are more likely to leave
Despite considerable Government investment in recruiting and training new science teachers, there continues to be significant shortages, especially in physics – the Institute of Physics estimates that about 500 schools do not have a physics teacher.[5]
In 2022/23, only 54% of the target was achieved for teacher recruitment across science, 25% for D&T and 30% for computing, 85% for biology and 86% for chemistry – but the figure was only 17% for physics, a situation exacerbated by the small pool of physics graduates available.[6]
The proportions of teachers who leave after 1, 3 and 5 years are also higher for teachers of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computing – by 5 years, over one-third of teachers of physics, maths and computing leave the profession.[7] Since 2018 over 27,700 teachers have been trained in these subjects with around 9,400 expected to leave within five years of being trained. Engaging with subject-specific CPD would reduce this to around 4,600 leaving – or put another way, an additional 4,800 teachers remaining in the profession.
The situation is worse in state schools and worse in areas of deprivation
Research highlights that state school teachers experience far higher levels of stress, a contributing factor towards the decision to leave teaching which may lead to worse retention in state schools.[8] The rate of attrition of teachers leaving the state-funded sector is also higher in areas of high pupil deprivation (7.1% for the lowest FSM%, 9.5% for highest in secondary).[9] It is also more challenging to recruit specialist science teachers in coastal and rural areas, which often have higher levels of social disadvantage.
Quality of teaching and quality of learning is lower, and this has a disproportional impact on disadvantaged pupils
The impact on pupils is significant. More experienced teachers achieve better outcomes for young people.[10] The UK has one of the youngest teaching workforces in the OECD. 31% of primary and around 20% of secondary teachers in the UK are under 30 years old – significantly more than the OECD averages (primary 12%, secondary 9%). Poorer schools also hire younger teachers.[11]
The difficulties with teacher recruitment and retention also increases the likelihood that students are taught by teachers outside of their specialism, which reduces the quality of learning and affects progress in the discipline, as depth of teacher knowledge is associated with student attainment.[12]
To make matters worse, teacher shortages are more acute for schools serving disadvantaged communities. As a specific example, students in rural and coastal areas are more likely to be taught science by non-specialist teachers compared to those in urban areas.9 Yet evidence shows that quality of teaching is crucial to close the “attainment gap” between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers – a gap widened by the disruptions caused by lockdowns. For example “Teacher specialism, supply and retention impacted on students’ likelihood of identifying with and aspiring to science although these issues impacted particularly on working-class and minority ethnic students, who reported the most teacher turnover and teaching quality issues”.[13]
Section 2: What action should the Department take to address the challenges in teacher recruitment and retention?
Subject-specific support for existing STEM teachers can help tackle teacher shortages by increasing teacher retention
Given the scale of current shortages of science teachers, it is clear these shortages cannot be solved solely through the recruitment and training of new teachers. Fortunately, we do have clear evidence that support for teachers can help to tackle teacher shortages by increasing retention of trained teachers. Improvements in retention have the potential for substantial impact because attrition is currently high: the Government’s own data shows that 36% of new STEM teachers leave the profession within five years. Research by Education Datalab and Wellcome shows that engaging with subject-specific continuing professional development (CPD) increased the likelihood of teachers remaining in teaching by 160% - with even bigger improvements (190%) for early career teachers.[14]
Improving retention by investing in CPD is a highly cost-effective way to address science teacher shortages, offering 23 times return of investment.[15] Initial teacher training is expensive compared to CPD, so investing to retain experienced teachers is beneficial for the Exchequer as well as young people. Physics, chemistry, computing and maths teachers are eligible for a £24k bursary – 3,400 teachers are being trained in these subjects this year. If 16% of them leave within one year, that is costing £13m in bursaries, however with subject specific CPD this would reduce to just 6% leaving, saving over £8m in bursaries alone.
As set out in the Royal Society’s 2021 report “Science education for a research and innovation economy”, “investment in continuing professional development (CPD) for those teaching science more than pays for itself, by reducing the need to recruit and train new teachers”.[16] Teacher recruitment influences the extent to which subject-specific CPD is required – with more teachers without a specialist qualification increasing the need for subject-specific CPD.
Moreover, in addition to helping solve teacher shortages, Government investment in teacher CPD also helps to improve the quality of teaching – evidence shows that teaching quality has a greater impact than any other factor on a young person’s engagement, enjoyment and attainment in STEM. As one international study put it “No education system can exceed the quality of its teachers. The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction.” Quantitative analysis supports this, with clear evidence of the positive impact of STEM teacher CPD on outcomes for young people (attainment and progression).[17]
Government investment in sector-led delivery models such as Science Learning Partnerships and Computing Hubs is also providing an alternative to leaving the classroom whilst achieving career progression.
Subject-specific CPD is also more effective, in terms of its impact on pupil outcomes, than generic pedagogic CPD.[18] A 2020 evidence review from the Education Policy Institute found that the impact of CPD on pupil outcomes is comparable to impact of having a teacher with ten years of experience.[19]
Teachers would be willing to trade-off higher pay/rewards to work in supportive environments – in a survey of over 2,200 teachers they stated that they were willing to trade a 0.43% pay increase for a one-day increase in CPD days per year.[20]
Teachers highly value investment in professional development and would like more CPD days than they currently have. High-performing education systems value continued investment in teachers’ subject knowledge and tend to have high investment in CPD, and this has been found to have a greater impact on student attainment than other interventions such as implementing performance-related pay for teachers or lengthening the school day.[21]
Section 3: How well does the current teacher training framework work to prepare new teachers and how could it be improved?
Consideration should be given to how teacher training could better embed subject-specific support, developing more competent and confident subject teachers more quickly. Early career teachers of science engaging with subject-specific CPD are 190% more likely to remain in teaching.[22]
The TALIS 2018 found that teachers in the UK feel less prepared in subject-specific content (64%) compared to the TALIS average (77%).[23] The Early Career Framework fails to address subject specific teaching. There is a need for additional support given the specific challenges of teaching science, for example, the need to be able to teach practicals safely and with purpose as well as the demands on science teachers to teach subjects outside their specialism.
Both ECTs and the experienced teachers supporting them as ECF mentors would strongly welcome subject specific support for early career teachers.[24]
Section 4: How do challenges in teacher recruitment, training and retention compare to those being faced in other professions/ sectors of the economy, and is there anything that can be learned from other professions/ sectors of the economy?
The professional development structure for teaching, particularly the development and accreditation of subject-specific teaching expertise, is lacking in comparison to other professions.
Teaching is a hugely important and demanding profession, requiring high levels of subject knowledge and pedagogical expertise, alongside commitment and resilience. Its demands and social importance rank it alongside other expert professions – medicine, law, engineering, accountancy, etc. – all of which have well-defined, mandatory, career-long professional development systems.[25]
The approach that these professions take to professional development reflects the rapidly evolving nature of the technologies that they are deploying. Science computing teachers also need to keep up with rapidly evolving fields.
Another issue specific to teaching, is that unlike other professions post pandemic – teachers and support staff have been largely unable to benefit from more flexible working patterns facilitated through use of technology.
Section 5: What particular challenges exist in teacher recruitment, training and retention for teachers from different demographic backgrounds?
Broad and diverse role models from industry can help redress this balance, contextualising teaching and learning
STEM Learning manages the Government’s flagship STEM Ambassador programme, connecting inspirational volunteers with young people via schools, colleges and community groups. The Government’s investment in this programme - routed via UKRI - provides national infrastructure - a UK wide network that mobilises over 37,000 STEM Ambassadors.
These passionate, committed volunteers come from the widest range of backgrounds imaginable. They are relatable – the majority (57%) are under 35. Their visible diversity challenges stereotypes - nearly half (45%) are female and 15% are from UK minority ethnic backgrounds. STEM Ambassadors bring a wealth of diverse jobs and experience, working for over 7,000 different employers with around 1,400 working in technician or other technical roles.
STEM Ambassadors engage and inspire young people from all backgrounds about STEM. But this kind of engagement is particularly important for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who do not have access to the support networks and connections that create “science capital”. As one teacher put it: “We’ve got children who don’t have many life experiences, who don’t visit beyond their estates. If they don’t know a job exists, they can’t set their goals to do that sort of thing... previously 80% said they wanted to be Youtubers, vets, footballers or gamers but the children were amazed when STEM Ambassadors showed them all these global projects. They suddenly had their horizons broadened and started to consider different careers.”
April 2023
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[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/903642/2._Workforce__6104.01_Winter_2019_.pdf
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0742051X21001499
[3] https://www.iop.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/shift-learning-science-timetable-models-research.pdf
[4] https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/3784/retaining_science_mathematics_and_computing_teachers.pdf
[5] https://www.iop.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/Institute-of-Physics-spring-budget-submission-feb-23.pdf
[6] https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/5286/teacher_labour_market_in_england_annual_report_2023.pdf
[7] https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/3784/retaining_science_mathematics_and_computing_teachers.pdf
[8] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13654802211024758
[9] https://www.nfer.ac.uk/key-topics-expertise/school-workforce/explore-by-school-type/
[10] https://montrose42.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/most-teachers-reach-a-performance-plateau-within-a-few-years-according-to-research/
[11] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09645292.2017.1366425?journalCode=cede20
[12] https://repec-cepeo.ucl.ac.uk/cepeob/cepeobn13.pdf
[13]https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10092041/15/Moote_9538%20UCL%20Aspires%202%20report%20full%20online%20version.pdf
[14] https://www.stem.org.uk/system/files/elibrary-resources/2017/09/Improving%20Science%20Teacher%20Retention.pdf
[15] https://assets.ctfassets.net/pc40tpn1u6ef/5bSkZ0BCNxqYQJzEnJ79Q8/dfcc440e39a96a83cfcd16e301b22859/ValuingImpactOfScienceCPD.pdf
[16] https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2022/science-education-for-a-research-and-innovation-economy/
[17] See www.stem.org.uk/evidence/PrimaryScience.pdf, www.stem.org.uk/evidence/ScienceGCSEs.pdf, www.stem.org.uk/evidence/ALeevelProgression.pdf,
[18] https://wellcome.org/sites/default/files/developing-great-subject-teaching.pdf
[19] https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/effects-high-quality-professional-development/
[20]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/958634/Understanding_Teacher_Retention_Report_by_RAND-February_2021.pdf
[21] https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/towards-a-national-system-of-subject-specific-cpd/
[22] https://www.stem.org.uk/system/files/elibrary-resources/2017/09/Improving%20Science%20Teacher%20Retention.pdf
[23]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/919064/TALIS_2018_research.pdf
[24] https://teachertapp.co.uk/app/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-Early-Career-Framework-TT-Gatsby-Final.pdf
[25] https://www.ncetm.org.uk/features/professional-development-the-key-to-making-teaching-a-career-worth-having/