Supporting teachers in their early careers

Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Standards, UK The last year has thrown up so many new and unexpected challenges to us all. It has been a difficult time for the whole country, not least for schools and for young people. With very little notice or time to plan, heads and teachers, alongside parents at home, have had to deliver and support teaching remotely. And, as usual, the profession has responded magnificently. This has not been a surprise to me. We all know the difference that inspirational and excellent teaching makes and that high-quality teaching is the main way in which we can improve pupil outcomes. It is also central to closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers (Slater et al., 2011; Chetty et al., 2014). That is why we are working hard to deliver on the vison that we set out in our Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy (DfE, 2019): to create a world-class system of training and professional development for all teachers that draws