Lies, damned lies and DfE statistics

NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney is appalled by the Government’s misleading spin on the state of education.

ON 8 June a huge range of Government statistics on teachers and support staff in our children’s schools was released.

The Department for Education (DfE), which holds most of these figures, then tweeted: “New data shows that there’s a record number of teachers in England’s schools – 468,371! This is an increase of 2,800 compared to last year, and over 27,000 more teachers than in 2010.”

They started that tweet with a celebration emoji and ended it with two clapping emojis.

Don’t believe the hype

Great – loads more teachers in our schools.

Gillian Keegan quote tweeted it, adding: “In today’s competitive job market, it’s fantastic to see so many people choosing a rewarding career in teaching, with a record number of teachers now working in our schools.”

Even better – teaching is a competitive career. Rishi Sunak then quote tweeted Gillian’s tweet, adding: “Providing every child with the highest possible standard of education was one of the reasons I got into politics. So it’s fantastic to see record numbers of teachers in our schools.”

So all is well in England’s schools; they are providing the highest possible standards of education. But wait… were there any other DfE statistics released on 8 June? What did they say?

Damning retention statistics

They show a pattern of failure by this Government, revealing that the teacher retention crisis is getting worse, not better.

n There are 995,000 more pupils in statefunded schools than in 2010 – that is 37 extra pupils for every extra teacher.

n More teachers than ever before left the job last year.

n More teachers than ever before left prior to retirement.

n The number of head teachers who left before retirement has shot up alarmingly –the highest figure there has ever been.

Epic failure in recruitment

Recruitment is also in a dire state. The gap between the number of new teachers needed (according to the DfE’s own model) and the number actually starting is the largest it has been for decades.

n The number of vacancies recorded in England’s schools is the highest since 2004.

n The number of children in classes of over 30 is the highest ever.

n The pupil-teacher ratio in secondary and primary schools is one of the worst in the OECD. In secondary schools only Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are worse. For primary schools Chile is doing better than the UK and only Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are worse.

n The teachers we have often don’t have a post-A level qualification in the subject they are teaching and almost all secondary subjects are under-recruiting.

DfE refusing to engage with unions

The DfE’s presentation of its statistics – not just in its tweet but also in an associated blog – are so far from impartial as to be farcical.

But it is not the presentation of the statistics that most concerns the union.

The biggest problem is that the DfE isn’t acting to put right the problems our schools face. The DfE is not engaging in discussion with the unions about teacher pay and workload, nor about the funding of pay rises.

This is the key question: is the DfE simply hiding the truth to justify its lack of action, or does it actually believe its own propaganda?

Whichever, the DfE is letting our schools and our children down.

The NEU campaign to force recognition of the issues is making progress – you can see that in the leak of the School Teachers’ Review Body report (which has reportedly recommended a pay award of 6.5 per cent next year) and in the fact that other unions are now joining us in balloting for industrial action.

Negative impact of SATs

A REPORT into SATs and other primary statutory tests has concluded that the system has resulted in unintended negative consequences.

The joint report – from campaign group More Than A Score (MTAS) and research thinktank the Education Policy Institute – concluded that SATs have had a negative impact on pupil wellbeing, teacher autonomy and the breadth of the primary curriculum.

This supports findings from a recent NEU survey in which 92.4 per cent of teachers disagreed that year 6 SATs were the most accurate indicator of whether pupils have received a high standard of primary education.