TEACHERS will be given more help to job share and a lighter workload in an attempt to prevent experienced staff from leaving the profession, in a major shake up launched by East Hampshire MP and Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

The government’s first-ever integrated strategy to recruit and retain more teachers in schools has been welcomed by teachers, education unions and leading professional bodies.

The strategy will deliver on Mr Hinds’ commitment to champion the profession and will build on the 30,000 classroom teachers the government aims to recruit each year, support the 450,000 teachers already working in schools in England, and boost outcomes for pupils:

n It will provide new teachers with the foundations for a successful career by creating the Early Career Framework, backed by at least £130m a year in extra funding when fully rolled out.

New teachers will receive a two-year package of training and support at the start of their career, including a reduced timetable to allow them to make the most of their training.

Extra investment will also be pledged, through the £42m Teacher Development Premium, to roll out the Early Career Framework.

n Extra financial incentives to encourage talented teachers to stay in the classroom will see bursaries reformed to include retention-based payments for those who stay in the profession by staggering additional payments throughout the first years of their careers.

n The process of applying to become a teacher will also be simplified by introducing a one-stop application system to make it easier for those interested and also to help them experience classroom teaching.

n Help to reduce teachers’ workloads is included by stripping away unnecessary tasks and working with Ofsted to ensure staff workload is considered as part of a school’s inspection judgement.

n The opportunity to create a more diverse range of options for career progression, such as helping schools to introduce flexible working practices through a new match-making service for teachers seeking a job-share and developing specialist qualifications and non-leadership career routes for teachers who want to stay in the classroom, with additional incentives to work in challenging schools.

Mr Hinds is calling on the profession to work with the Department for Education to deliver the plan and help meet the “shared challenge” of recruitment and retention.

“When I took this job a year ago, I made championing teachers my number one priority,” he said. “Over the past year I have worked with Ofsted and the unions to bear down on workload.

“I think teachers work too many hours – aggravated by unnecessary tasks like excessive marking and data entry, spending more than half their time on non-teaching tasks.

“But those who choose to become teachers chose to do so to inspire young people, support their development and set them up for a bright future – not stay late in the office filling in a spreadsheet.

“This ambitious strategy commits to supporting teachers – particularly those at the start of their career – to focus on what actually matters, the pupils in their classrooms.

“In a competitive graduate labour market we must continue to ensure teaching is an attractive profession so we can train and retain the next generation of inspirational teachers. Working with teachers, school leaders, trusts and unions, this strategy will help to support teachers to do what they do best – teach.”

The priorities in the strategy have been defined with leading education unions, who have co-signed a commitment to help teachers and school leaders implement the strategy so it has maximum impact in schools.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “Delivered well, this programme of mentoring and support will help new teachers to build their confidence and hone their skills.”