England continues to have a long-standing problem with recruiting and retaining teachers. Despite high-profile policy discourses such as those in the 2022 initial teacher training (ITT) market review pledging to make ‘England the best place in the world to become a great teacher’, this problem remains (see for example Walker, 2022).
As a means of supporting new teachers, the Department for Education’s early career framework reform extended the induction period for new teachers from one year to two years, with this coming into force in September 2021. However, analysis of the government’s consultation reveals that the decision to extend the induction was not based on the responses received by that same consultation.
‘Analysis of the government’s consultation reveals that the decision to extend the induction period for new teachers from one year to two years was not based on the responses received by that same consultation.’
During the government consultation, when asked directly if the induction period should be extended to two years, 39.74 per cent of all respondents answered ‘yes’, 8.15 per cent answered ‘another amount of time’, 47.63 per cent were in favour of keeping it at one year, and 4.48 per cent, did not know. Fewer than 40 per cent of the respondents reported that they would welcome a two-year induction, which suggests that the respondents’ views were overlooked, and that the decision-making was led by an obscure motive and not by the data itself.
