This document summarizes a presentation given by Louis Coiffait of Reform Think Tank on making the most of school staff. It discusses challenges like rising teacher vacancies, especially in certain subjects and regions. It proposes three solutions: reforming teacher training funding from recruitment bursaries to retention rewards; establishing regional Workforce Boards to develop tailored workforce strategies; and growing more schools groups to provide career development and centralized support for staff. The full research report with 15 recommendations will be released later in the month.

1. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
The trillion £ question:
How to make the most of school staff?
Presentation at: https://goo.gl/b2Zt9U
11.50-12.30, session 3, room M211
ResearchED 2017 National Conference #rED17
Louis Coiffait
Head of Education
Reform – an independent, non-party think tank

2. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Agenda
1 The research project
2 Why teachers matter
3 Workforce challenges
Three solutions:
4 National: reforming teacher training funding
5 Regional: Workforce Boards
6 Local: growing more schools groups
7 Q&A

3. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
The research project
1 Interviews with forty-one experts
2 Roundtable with nineteen
3 Analysis of existing data and research
4 Report over fifty pages long
5 A comprehensive new vision for the workforce
6 Fifteen recommendations (just three shared here)
7 Out in full later this month…

4. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Why teachers matter
Maintaining a vital public service
1 Single biggest impact on pupil outcomes
2 With benefits to both pupils and the country
3 Schools spend 70-80% of their budgets on staff
4 Over a trillion £ invested in current workforce
5 A company with such an asset would invest in
constant maintenance and upgrades, instead…

5. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Current approaches to our trillion pound asset?
A) Over-emphasis on recruitment not retention
B) Blunt, short-term, opaque national approach
C) Unfair playing field for some schools

6. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Workforce challenges
Trouble brewing
1 Rising vacancies
2 Especially some regions and ‘core’ subjects
3 +19.1% secondary pupils by 2026, +2.2% primary
4 Workforce Census data inaccurate
5 Disadvantaged students more likely to be taught
by unqualified and inexperienced teachers
6 7-year EBacc delay, mainly from workforce issues
7 Two decades of policy on standards, structures
and accountability – but consequences for staff

7. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Total vacancies and as a proportion
of teachers in post
Vacancies growing overall

8. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Vacancies as a proportion of all teachers
in post, in four subjects
Vacancies particularly acute in EBacc subjects

9. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Proportion of teachers without a relevant
post A-level qualification, in five subjects
Some subject specialists in short supply

10. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Vacancies or temporarily filled posts as a
proportion of all teachers, by region
Vacancies vary between (and within) regions

11. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Trends in number of secondary teachers
and pupils
The approaching tidal wave…

12. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Three (out of fifteen) solutions…
(see Karen; cake and saltatorius, as promised…)

13. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
National: current ITT funding
Focus on recruiting and training (not retention)
1 Vacancies mean focus on quantity not quality
2 Agency costs rising +27% to £1.3 billion
3 Compete with alternative careers in each subject
4 Attract more and different people
5 Nearly £1billion of recruitment bursaries DfE’s
only answer in recent years
6 But poor evidence of value for money, with risk
of ‘deadweight’ (people applying anyway)
7 All the money spent on recruitment, not retention

14. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
National: Mean bursary level and annual exit
rate by subject (2015-16)
Higher-cost recruitment has lower retention
Subject
Mean bursary level
(1st, 2.1 and 2.2) Annual exit rate
Sciences £19,571 10.4%
Mathematics £25,000 10.3%
Languages £25,000 10.2%
Technology £7,000 10%
English £6,000 9.7%
Art, drama and music £4,333 8.4%
Humanities £4,333 8.5%

15. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
National: reforming teacher training funding
From recruitment bursaries to retention rewards
1 All bursary money currently spent to recruit
2 Phased retention rewards would help retention
e.g. £25k becomes five annual £5k payments
4 Helps get people past tough first five years
5 Helps discourage (or turn) ‘bursary tourists’
6 Less risk than ‘service periods’ with sanctions

16. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Regional: current picture
Who’s accountable for the workforce?
1 Multiple overlapping / opaque programmes,
often micro-managed from the centre
2 Bureaucratic caps and allocations
3 Partial and ad-hoc regionalisation
4 £1.43m National Teaching Service recruited … 24
“Nick Gibb can’t be responsible for filling
every teaching vacancy!”
Interviewee

17. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Current centralised picture (acronym bingo)
Unclear if spending effective
DfE
9 N/RSCs
8 HTBs
32 SRIBs
NTS
£1.43m
HEIs
Recruitment
marketing
£16.7m
SCITTs
Regional
infrastructure
/ delivery staff12 OAs
Bursaries /
scholarships
£1bn
TLIF
REP
NPSS
SSIF
MPTSP
Intl. recruiting
£10m

18. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Regional: Workforce Boards
Funding and decisions devolved to each region
1 Tinkering not working, a new vision needed
2 A more tailored approach to the workforce
3 A single workforce funding pot for each region
4 New Boards decide regional workforce strategy
5 Respond to local needs, develop solutions
6 New Brokers win contracts to deliver the strategy
/ help with solutions e.g. impartial brokering /
advice for staff in the region

19. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Regional Workforce Boards
Bringing all regional stakeholders together
Board –
decides
strategy
Broker –
helps deliver
strategy
Single
workforce
funding pot
Chartered
CollegeHEIs SCITTs
Teaching
schools
Reps for all
schools
LEPs / Metros
/ Mayors
Regional Workforce Board
RSC (Chair)

20. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Local: growing more schools groups
All harder / impossible for stand-alone schools
1 Distinctive career offers to staff
2 Greater capacity for development / progression
3 Succession planning and leadership training
4 Secondments and shared posts
5 Centrally employed / deployed staff across group
6 Centralised support services e.g. HR, recruitment
7 Negotiate better agency and CPD contracts
8 Capacity and data for workforce planning

21. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Local: growing more schools groups
MATs and federations hold more cards
1 Clear benefits of groups, especially for staff
2 True of both MATs and ‘hard’ federations
3 Stand-alone schools struggle to compete
4 But two thirds of schools not in such a group
5 Need to understand and share benefits better
6 DfE should be agnostic about group type
7 Federations the ‘gateway drug’...

22. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
How our trillion pound asset should be treated?
A) Incentives to retain (not just recruit) staff
B) A clear and tailored regional approach
C) A fairer playing field between schools

23. @LouisMMCoiffait @ReformThinkTank
Thank you! Questions?
Our research report on the school
workforce is out later this month