Assessing the Impact of Pay and Financial Incentives in Improving Shortage Subject Teacher Supply. Report

England has been facing a significant teacher supply challenge, marked particularly by undersupply of the maths, physics and chemistry teachers required to deliver a high-quality science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education across the country. There has been chronic under-recruitment and higher-than-average leaving rates for maths and science, primarily due to STEM graduates having relatively attractive career options outside of teaching, compared to teachers of other subjects (MAC, 2017; Worth and Van den Brande, 2019). Teacher pay in England is not differentiated by subject, so differences in the financial attractiveness of outside options matters greatly for the health of supply in these subjects. Subject-specific bursaries, with the highest levels for maths and science subjects, have provided some level of remedy, but in recent years this has not been enough to ensure sufficient teacher supply. The piloting of early career payments for maths and physics teachers has shown promising evidence of being effective at increasing teacher retention in specific targeted STEM subjects (Sims and Benhenda, 2022). This report explores the impact of pay and financial incentives on shortage subject teacher supply. The research shows evidence that a number of economic and financial factors are associated with higher teacher recruitment, including higher teacher pay and bursaries and a weaker wider labour market. It also forecasts future teacher supply with a scenario-testing model that integrates teacher recruitment and retention. [This report was funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (United Kingdom).]