The latest government figures on the school workforce in England have revealed that teachers in full-time employment were up by only 300 from 2022, equating to a tiny 0.06% rise over the year. To add to the woes of an already struggling sector in dire need of teaching talent, the number of new entrants was down by almost 4,000. It is clear from the statistics that schools will continue to be badly hit by staff shortages, which will mean that they will need to increasingly rely on supply teachers to plug those gaps. Let’s examine the situation in more detail.
Shortages on the rise
Unsurprisingly, teacher vacancies have continued to rise of late, in fact more than doubling (154% up) over the last three years, rising notably from 1,100 in November 2020 to 2,800 in November 2023. The number of temporarily filled posts increased by 90% during the same three-year period, although leadership positions fell. However, as the data has glaringly revealed, the increase in the number of teachers has not been able to keep up with the growth in new jobs, with the pressures and resourcing issues for schools and trusts mounting by the day.
The government has missed its targets by some way and the supply of teachers has not been enough to meet the shortfall. This applies across a number of subjects including physics, maths, English, chemistry, art & design, religious education and more; the shortages are widespread and not just confined to STEM subjects. The number of new teaching assistants did rise during the period but once again you will find that the incremental increase is negligible (up 0.6%). The same can be said for the number of leavers in the sector, which although lower than the previous year, is only slightly so!
Worryingly, the proportion of early career teachers within the total of new entrants fell from 45% in 2022 to 41% in 2023, which is being felt more in secondary than primary schools. It is abundantly clear that schools are struggling to attract new blood. Indeed, this prompted Paul Whiteman, the General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), the school leaders’ union, to talk about “the stark evidence of the recruitment and retention crisis facing our schools and the need for whoever forms the next government to commit to urgent action to address this”.
But with the general election rapidly approaching, what are the main political parties planning to do to solve the problem? As you’d expect, there are plenty of pledges in all their manifestos. If we take the Conservatives, Rishi Sunak’s government has promised to firstly maintain spending in real terms while also offering bonus payments of £30,000 (spread over five years) for priority subjects such as STEM and the others mentioned above. In a bid to improve numeracy levels and change “the anti-maths mindset”, the prime minister also stated that maths will be mandatory up to the age of 18.
And what about the other political parties? In its manifesto, Labour has vowed to recruit 6,500 teachers. They have also promised to ensure that more staff are specifically hired into shortage subjects while helping with recruitment challenges in local areas. They also want to introduce a teacher training entitlement to allow teachers to stay up to date. The Lib Dems’ teacher workforce strategy will also help boost the attraction of specialist subject teachers.
Counting the cost of teacher sickness absence
While the median average salary for full-time teachers has risen to over £43,000 in 2023/24 following recent strikes and improved pay offers, these increases are still relatively small if you consider that average pay was over £35,000 as far back as 2011/12. We know that a good number of teachers have left the sector to seek better-paying jobs as they weren’t able to pay their bills during the debilitating cost of living crisis (and continue to do so). Despite better conditions, schools, trusts, and leaders are still up against it when it comes to recruiting and attracting top talent.
Perhaps one of the most concerning statistics from the report relates to sickness absence. Although the percentage of teachers who called in sick fell marginally from 67.5% (2022) to 66.2% (2023), these numbers are still much higher than pre-pandemic levels. This is a major concern for school and trust leaders who are having to grapple with increasing numbers of their permanent teachers having to take time off due to stress and burnout caused by excessive workloads. Yet another reason for headteachers to take countermeasures to ensure that they can cover these absences when needed.
Supply teacher recruitment
Regardless of who takes over the reins at Number 10, the numbers don’t lie and if there’s one takeaway it’s that talent shortages are rife and likely to persist for some time yet. Unless the incoming government does more to support schools and entice new entrants to the sector, students’ education will continue to suffer. Schools will need to have contingency plans in place to combat sickness and a shortage of available talent, so being able to call upon qualified and fully screened supply teachers who can hit the ground running and deliver engaging lesson plans will be vital.
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