The education secretary is “deluded” and “living in a fantasy world” over the school recruitment and retention crisis, union leaders have said.
Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the National Education Union, today gave their final keynote speech to its conference ahead of their retirement in September.
The NEU is currently locked in a bitter stalemate with the government over teacher pay which has already led to six days of strikes in England by teachers. Members this week voted overwhelmingly to reject ministers’ pay offer.
It comes at a time of crisis in school staff recruitment and retention. The government missed its target for recruitment of new secondary school teachers by 41 per cent this year, and also recruited fewer primary teachers than needed.
