To ask the Minister of Education what consideration has been given to developing a workforce strategy for the education sector, with an emphasis on attracting specialist STEM teachers into the post-primary sector.

The Department recognises the need to develop a sector-wide approach to strategic workforce planning and is working closely with the Education Authority to address this need. A survey for all schools in Northern Ireland is being planned, with the aim of gathering precise information on the challenges that schools are facing in recruiting and retaining teachers in specific subject areas.

As part of the workforce planning strategy, consideration will be given to possible strategies to address specific teacher shortages, including STEM subjects. This will include consideration of alternative employment models such as shared posts across schools and the possibility of carefully managed bursary schemes for Initial Teacher Education programmes to encourage more individuals to pursue teaching careers in identified subject areas including STEM. However, such schemes would have to be tightly targeted and would remain subject to available funding.