Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 1 November 2016.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, there are challenges across the whole of the United Kingdom in recruiting and retaining teachers in any education system. Sadly, the figures here in Wales for new recruits into the profession are pretty damning, to be honest with you. After five years in the profession, there’s been an increase of 50 per cent in teachers giving up the profession and walking away. There’s been a 16 per cent increase in teachers retiring before retirement. What confidence can we have that your new Government will be able to arrest these figures and actually turn those figures around so that teachers, when they’ve trained and when they’re in the profession, stay within the profession to make the improvements we all want to see in education?