Written question WQ96028

We continue to support the recruitment of maths graduates to Initial Teacher Education programmes through a range of activities including the use of incentives and promoting teaching as a career through marketing activities. Our Teaching Wales marketing campaign has various target audiences including both STEM graduates and career changers.

Our priority subject incentive scheme offers up to £15,000 for students training to teach in certain secondary subject specialisms including Mathematics. We also offer an additional £5,000 incentive for students who train to teach through the medium of Welsh and an additional £5,000 incentive for students from a recognised ethnic minority, meaning a maths graduate could receive up to £25,000 should they meet the criteria for all three schemes. The incentives are available to student teachers on both full-time and part-time PGCE programmes.

Our ‘alternative’ routes into teaching, procured and supported by the Welsh Government and offered by the Open University, provide a route into teaching for aspiring teachers where ‘traditional’ full-time programmes of initial teacher education may be unsuitable. This may include those looking to change careers, parents or adult-carers, low-income households/backgrounds, and those living in rural areas unable to access a regional university.

Maths has been available on both the Part-time PGCE and Salaried PGCE since academic year 2020/21. Student finance is available for Part-time PGCE student teachers and Welsh Government provides grant funding for Salaried PGCE student teachers. The grant funding fully covers their training costs and provides support to their employing secondary school with regards to their salary.

In terms of retention we recognise the link between workload and wellbeing. We are very clear that tackling workload for school staff continues to be a key priority. By taking a social partnership approach, there has been constructive and positive work done with stakeholders over the last year to look at the causes of workload and unnecessary bureaucracy.

We continue to support the well-being of the education workforce through the charity Education Support that provides a range of services in addition to that provided by employers. This includes Education Support’s School Wellbeing Service, which offers free, bespoke advice and wellbeing support directly to schools, with continuing support as needed.

Last year I was pleased to be able to make a pay award of 5.5% that exceeded the 4.3% recommended by the Independent Wales Pay Review Board to support the retention of the teaching workforce.

The Centre for Education Research and Innovation within the OECD have recently completed the first phase of research on ‘Constructing scenarios for the future of teaching in Wales’. The report will be published on 28th March 2025 and the findings will be considered further as part of the development of the Strategic Education Workforce Plan which is currently in its preparatory stage.