Commenting on a pledge from the Labour Party that seeks to address the rise in recent years of secondary school students being taught by non-specialist teachers, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“It is good to see Labour acknowledging the scale of crisis in our schools. This crisis of recruitment and retention has got worse year by year since the Conservatives entered Government in 2010. Labour’s announcement is welcome; but such is the scale of Conservative neglect, there will need to be much more movement to change the negative direction. We look forward to further announcements from Labour.”