Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech today to the Conservative Party Conference, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – the Teacher’s Union said:

“Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister is an admission of 13 years of failure.

“The qualifications system that the Prime Minister now wants to reform looks the way it does because that is how this Government wanted it to look. All the issues the Prime Minister has raised in his speech today result directly from reforms that this Government introduced during the last decade.

“The plan to scrap T-levels before they have been rolled out fully is just one in a long line of broken promises from this government and yet another costly and damaging policy U-turn.

“The Prime Minister’s ambitions for a world-class education system are not reflected in the plans he has announced today.”


Notes to Editors

Teacher recruitment and retention statistics can be found in the results of our last Big Question Survey. This survey analysed responses from teachers across the UK. In this survey, we found that:

Only 14% of respondents said they would recommend teaching as a career.

86% agreed that they work too hard for too little reward.

Our members are proud of the work they do and feel they are valued by their own school community, but 73% have seriously considered leaving their current job and 66% have considered leaving the teaching profession altogether because of the unremitting pressures they are facing.