Teacher retention must be addressed if our schools are to Power Up The North – Yorkshire Post says

IT goes without saying that The Yorkshire Post welcomes the additional support being made available to new teachers in Bradford, Doncaster and other locations across the North.
Steps are being taken to improve the retention of teachers in Bradford and Doncaster.Steps are being taken to improve the retention of teachers in Bradford and Doncaster.
Steps are being taken to improve the retention of teachers in Bradford and Doncaster.

There is a clear correlation between the quality of teaching academic attainment – and both Doncaster and Bradford are still home to an above-average number of schools judged inadequate by Ofsted inspectors.

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For starters, the Minister needs to accept why school staff, of all ages and abilities, are abandoning their chosen career. A primary reason is the Government’s expectation that they will teach more pupils with fewer resources and also meet the daily whims of Ministers.

If Mr Hinds doesn’t realise this after being appointed in January last year to replace the comprehensive-educated Justine Greening, a Rotherham-born Cabinet Minister who understood these issues, he should be replaced by the next PM in one of their first acts.

And if Ministers want to see the type of transformation which took place in London’s schools when they propped up national league tables, they should provide the level of funding made available to the capital – one of the central demands of the Power Up The North campaign.

For, while much of the Northern Powerhouse’s focus has been on physical infrastructure, and with very good reason, it needs to be matched by an unprecedented commitment towards skills if the region’s potential is to be realised. And that begins in the classroom with the recruitment – and then the retention – of world-class teachers.