Teaching as a high-status profession: Improving teacher supply Recommendations for the education white paper 2022

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Teaching Profession’s Special Interest Group (SIG) for Teacher Supply was established in January 2022. The Teacher Supply SIG aimed to provide a regular opportunity for experienced professionals in all sectors of Education in the United Kingdom (UK) to share insights and information about issues relating to teacher supply. We are committed to supporting the government in matters relating to the teacher profession. This report meets a function of the APPG SIG: Teacher Supply to - ‘2.3 Advise APPG on fitness for purpose of policies and practices of the government relating to teacher supply and their function in supporting qualified teacher numbers as needed.’ (APPG SIG: Teacher Supply Terms of Reference, 2022). The Teacher Supply SIG have considered the question: ‘What action will support a high-status and sustainable teaching profession in English primary and secondary schools?’’ We recognise that schools operate within a complex environment that is subject to social and system level variables, such as the alignment of education to party political policies and local authority/school/multi-academy trust culture. We also recognise that schools and colleges experience teacher supply1 in different ways. Therefore, this report will focus on schools only

School recovery strategies: year 1 findings

The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned Ipsos MORI, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and the Centre for Education and Youth (CfEY), to carry out research among primary and secondary schools to understand how they have responded to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and what further support they believe they need looking forwards. This report presents interim findings from the first year of the research, conducted in the 2020/21 academic year. It is based on data collected from school leaders and their responses to an online survey (1,018 survey responses in total) and 40 qualitative interviews. The research is set to continue in the 2021/22 academic year

‘Are We Included?’ A validation of the Teachers’ Inclusion Climate Scale

This study aimed to validate the individual scales of the teacher questionnaire measuring inclusion in the context of secondary schools in Plymouth, England. The study is important as it assesses the validity and reliability of the scales in the context of Plymouth where it is to be used, with possibly the prospect of piloting it in different schools in England at a later stage. Moreover, if our findings corroborate the findings of past research, the research community would be encouraged to use of the questionnaire in different school settings. Similar findings from different countries would suggest that the questionnaire produces valid and reliable results across educational systems and cultures

Are We Included?’ A validation of the students’ Inclusion Climate Scale (ICS)

In March 2022 Plymouth City Council commissioned Plymouth Marjon University and the University of Plymouth to conduct research on three assessment instruments measuring inclusion from the perspectives of students, parents and teachers. The research projects were part of Plymouth Place-based School Improvement project. At the time the project focused on three strategic priorities: school leadership, curriculum and inclusion. To deliver on its priorities a number of key stakeholders were brought together, including the Education Endowment Fund (EEF), Plymouth Local Authority, the Regional Schools’ Commissioner, Headteachers, MAT CEOs and their leadership teams who chosen to take a collaborative and sustainable approach to ensure rapid school improvement. The research aimed to support Plymouth’s strategic priority of inclusion and took place between May and August 2022. The concept of 'inclusion education' has been debated in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries since an early UNESCO (1994) report. Since then, the debate has been enriched with a multitude of ideas, mainly championing the initiatives of comprehensive learning environments where all children would be included in the learning but also social life. Highly cited research, however, such as Avramidis and Norwich (2002) has maintained that any inclusive policy - no matter how well-designed or funded it is, depends heavily on the attitudes of teachers to be successful. Various factors have also been identified as affecting teachers' attitudes towards inclusion education, such as teachers' experience, school ethos etc

Trial Evaluation Protocol Research Learning Communities (The RLC programme)

The Research Learning Communities programme aims to improve Literacy and Mathematics outcomes of Children in Need (CIN) and Looked After Children (LAC), by supporting Subject Leads, Designated Teachers and year 5 and 6 teachers in primary schools to further develop and implement research-informed teaching strategies. The RLC programme will be developed and delivered by the School of Education in Durham University, between October 2021 and May 2022. Although the programme was previously delivered to schools and was evaluated, it is the first time that it will be focusing on supporting teachers to develop evidence-based teaching strategies specifically for CIN/LAC. To do so, trained facilitators will develop and deliver a series of six workshops, preceded by an introductory session, and closed by a final ‘moving forward’ session, with Subject Leads and Designated Teachers across 240 primary schools in 6 local authorities (LAs). To evaluate the RLC programme, this study will conduct an impact evaluation, an implementation and process evaluation, and a cost analysis using a mixed methods approach. In summary: • The impact evaluation will involve a randomised control trial (RCT) of year 6 pupils’ CIN/LAC KS2 scores in Literacy and Mathematics, supplied by the National Pupil Database (NPD); and an assessment of teachers’ knowledge of academic/action research, attitudes towards the use of research, use of academic/action research in practice, and implementation of improved teaching practices for CIN/LAC, assessed through a pre- and post- teacher questionnaire. • The implementation and process evaluation (IPE) will also draw on the pre- and post- teacher questionnaires, and, in addition, include a series of case studies, (consisting of interviews with school leaders and teachers in intervention and control schools) and observations of RLC workshops. • The cost analysis will collect data on delivery team costs for the implementation of the programme, teacher cover costs to attend RLC workshops and sessions, programme costs (such as costs incurred by virtual schools to recruit schools into the programme), as well as costs for facilities, equipment, and materials, among others. This data will be gathered by the delivery team and through teachers in the teacher questionnaire. Note: Since recruitment for the programme is still ongoing at the time of writing, this trial protocol has been developed based on an estimated number of schools and local authorities provided by the WWCSC. We have also estimated the number of teachers and CIN/LAC per school based on publicly available data. An updated protocol will be published after school recruitment has been finalised

‘Are We Included?’ A validation of the parental perceptions of Inclusion Climate Scale (ICS)

This study aimed to: a) validate the Parents’ Perception of Inclusion Climate Scale Inclusion Climate Scale (PPICS) in the context of secondary schools in Plymouth, England b) compare its findings findings with some of the findings of similar efforts, such as Schueler et al. (2014). The study is important as it assesses the validity and reliability of the scale in the context of Plymouth where it is to be used, with possibly the prospect of piloting it in different schools in England at a later stage. Unfortunately, it was not possible to identify other similar studies, beyond Schueler et al., 2014, in a similar context, with which to compare the findings of our analysis