THE Government says new figures on teacher numbers show that its manifesto commitment to recruit 10,000 more teachers by 2006 has already been met.
The Department for Education and Skills said the number of FTE (full time equivalent) regular teachers had risen by 4,300 in January 2003, compared with January 2002.
It said this meant there were nearly 25,000 more teachers since 1997 and 13,700 since January 2001 - and there were also more qualified teachers in schools than at any time since January 1984.
The figures, released yesterday, also showed that:
- The number of teacher vacancies had fallen by a quarter between January 2002 and January 2003, and the vacancy rate was now under one per cent
- Over 122,000 teaching assistants were now supporting teachers in schools - almost 16,000 more than last year, and twice as many as in 1997
- The number of supply teachers working in schools had fallen by 2.600 since January 2002
The DFES said the Government was committed to freeing up teachers' time to allow them to concentrate on teaching and preparing lessons.
Updated: 09:31 Wednesday, April 30, 2003
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