Virtual Teachers

15. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of virtual teachers on school children.

This Government are committed to ensuring that every child can access the tools they need in order to achieve and thrive. We inherited a challenging workforce picture from the previous Government, which is why we are committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers. We are backing teachers and restoring teaching to being a highly valued profession. There is no doubt that technology has a key role to play in driving high and rising standards at school. However, the most important factor for high-quality education is having an expert teacher at the front of the classroom.

In Rossendale, the academy trust that runs our “stuck” school, Valley leadership academy, recently announced plans to introduce a virtual teacher for top-set maths. This approach has understandably raised a lot of concerns, and I have been working with the trust to make sure it is designed in the pupils’ best interests. I have been assured that this will be a temporary measure, that a qualified maths teacher will be in the room to provide additional support, and that an appropriate range of adjustments will be made for SEND pupils. However, I remain concerned that, without safeguards, virtual teachers may become a default cost-saving measure to address recruitment challenges. Will the Minister share her view on how we can ensure that such an approach is always designed in pupils’ best interests—

Order. Come on, Andy. I call the Minister.

Technology has the potential to enhance time efficiency for teachers, reduce workload and improve student engagement and attainment, but it cannot replace the valuable relationship between teachers and pupils. We know that high-quality teaching has the biggest impact on a child’s educational outcomes. School leaders rightly have the autonomy to make decisions about staff deployment, and they are best placed to make decisions about the needs of their pupils.