Plaid Cymru have criticized the Welsh Government’s secondary teacher recruitment strategy as it emerged that only 335 Initial Teacher Education (ITE) students passed their qualification in the year 2024/25, a far cry from their target of 1,056.
As a solution to what they call the “recruitment crisis”, Plaid Cymru has proposed combining and simplifying the funding system available to prospective teachers and increasing the amount available to them to £30,000 for priority subjects.
During a scrutiny session in the Senedd on the work of Lynne Neagle, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, today (Wednesday, 12 November) Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s education spokesperson, referred to the challenges of the fragmented system that currently exists:
“It is clear that you as a government have not succeeded in solving the recruitment crisis facing the teaching sector in Wales.
“You could argue that up to £25,000 is available for prospective teachers in Wales via the three different incentive schemes, namely for priority subjects, teaching through Welsh, and being from a BME background, but the truth is, there was not a single student who followed those three schemes together last year.
“So, given this, and that we are still seeing shockingly low numbers in key subjects, can you at least admit that the current incentive plans are failing, and that they urgently need to be reformed?”
