Bridget Phillipson Spins Manifesto Pledge to Claim Progress While School Teacher Numbers Fall
Bridget Phillipson has reinterpreted the Labour manifesto pledge to hire 6,500 extra teachers amid a decline in teacher numbers. While she claims progress with an increase of 4,654 teachers, this figure is misleading as it combines data from different sources. Overall, the total number of teachers has decreased, with secondary teachers specifically declining by 500 in the past year.
- ▪Bridget Phillipson claims progress in hiring 6,500 extra teachers.
- ▪The reported increase of 4,654 teachers includes data from further education, not just secondary and special schools.
- ▪Overall teacher numbers have fallen by 1,900 since 2024, with secondary teachers decreasing by 500 in the last year.
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Bridget Phillipson has spun the Labour manifesto pledge to hire 6,500 extra teachers into something else entirely. Because teacher numbers are actually falling… The Education Secretary has tweeted about new teacher numbers: “Latest stats show we’re over 70% of the way to our target to recruit 6,500 teachers in the places they’re needed most. We have 4,654 more teachers in those schools and colleges compared to 2024.” The 4,654 is an inflated composite because the government’s own release credits only 3,000 secondary and special teachers to the pledge. The number only reaches 4,654 by adding in further education from a separate workforce dataset… Overall FTE teachers are down 1,900 from 2024 and the total workforce is down 1,500.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Guido Fawkes.
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