The number of people training to teach in further education has dropped by more than a fifth in just one year, new figures reveal.

A report from the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), shared exclusively with TES, shows a 22 per cent decrease in the number of learners studying initial teacher education (ITE) courses for FE between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

The overall number of learners engaged on ITE courses for the FE sector dropped by more than 11,000 - the biggest year-on-year fall since the ETF started compiling data.

Concerns are also growing that a shortage of teachers, particularly in English and maths, could pose difficulties for the government’s plan to introduce T-level technical qualifications, which were announced last week.

The bulk of the drop was in learners taking Awards, with the total number falling to 25,970 from 34,340 the previous year. There was also a significant decline in Certificates: the number decreased by more than half, from 6,250 to 2,920. The only category that reported a small rise was Diplomas, PGCEs and Cert Eds.

‘More investment’ needed

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has called on the government to create a workforce plan to attract more people to teach in FE, as well as greater investment in developing the FE workforce. Catherine Sezen, senior policy manager at the AoC, said: “The government has ambitious plans for technical education and it needs to have a workforce plan in place to attract new entrants to the FE sector, and to ensure that colleges are able to continue to train and develop existing teaching staff.

“At AoC, we would like to see more investment in the FE workforce.”

A survey carried out by the AoC in partnership with TES last May showed almost nine-in-10 colleges were struggling to recruit maths teachers, with more than two-thirds finding it difficult to hire sufficient English teachers after a significant rise in the number of GCSE resits in the subjects.

University and College Union head of FE Andrew Harden said that to attract people into FE, the government needed to do “a much better job of selling the sector”.

‘Government needs to do a much better job of selling the sector’

“Unfortunately, massive cuts to the sector, attacks on pensions and falling real-terms wages have had exactly the opposite effect,” he said. “We have lost around 15,000 teachers since 2009 and if the government is serious about the role FE has to play in getting Britain match fit for Brexit and beyond, then it needs to deliver a more attractive role for current and potential staff, and help people to complete their studies.”

James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers, said the reduction in ITE students in FE could be attributed to the Lingfield report on professionalism in the sector, published in 2012. This led to the scrapping of the requirement that teachers in FE and skills hold qualified teacher learning and skills status.

Combined with budget cuts, this had led to less training taking place and an increased number of unqualified teachers working in colleges, Mr Noble-Rogers said.

“This is selling learners short,” he added. “To address the problem, the government should reintroduce a mandatory qualifications requirement for teachers coming into the sector and introduce financial incentives comparable to those available to aspiring schoolteachers.”

David Powell, director of the Education and Training Consortium of higher education and FE teacher training providers, led by the University of Huddersfield, said that the changing nature of the college workforce and instability of part-time work could explain the drop in trainee numbers.

“Those types of qualification [with falling uptake] are for people who are looking to do part-time work, and the Awards are also for people who are not yet teaching,” he said. “We are seeing some shifts in employment, and the number of people who are completing those Awards is also dropping quite a bit.”

‘Crucial’ report

However, the number of learners achieving specialist Diplomas increased from 540 in 2012-13 to about 660 in 2014-15, mainly due to increases in the number of learners completing special educational needs and disability (SEND) and numeracy programmes. The number of learners enrolled on literacy and English for speakers of other languages subject-specialist Diplomas declined.

Just over 60 per cent of those who completed a Diploma or PGCE/Cert Ed in 2014-15 progressed to a teaching position in FE. In total, 76 per cent of all trainees progressed to employment in an FE college and 21 per cent gained employment with a private provider.

The average starting salary of those moving into the sector to teach has remained stable since 2012-13 and stood at £24,970 in 2014-15. The average starting salary for part-time teachers rose from £15,500 in 2013-14 to £17,330 in 2014-15.

Charlynne Pullen, head of workforce data at the ETF, said that the report was crucial in allowing the government “to understand where we are in terms of training teachers [and] what will be needed”.

@JBelgutay