Government reaches its teacher target

The
Government has met its manifesto commitment of recruiting 10,000 more teachers
by 2006.

The
number of teachers has risen by nearly 25,000 since 1997, and there are more
qualified teachers in schools than at any other time since January 1984.

New
figures on teacher numbers also show that:

–
the number of teacher vacancies fell by a quarter between January 2002 and
January 2003 and the vacancy rate is now under 1 per cent

–
more than 122,000 teaching assistants are now supporting teachers in schools –
twice as many as in 1997

–
the number of supply teachers working in schools has fallen by 2,600 since
January 2002

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The
Government says it is committed to freeing up teachers’ time to allow them to
concentrate on teaching and preparing lessons.

By Quentin Reade