A staffing crisis in English schools that has been building for a decade shows no sign of easing. The number of vacant posts increased by 44% between 2021 and 2022. One in four new teachers leaves the profession within three years. The headteacher of one secondary school describes trying to fill some roles as “advertising for a unicorn”. Even in English, where recruitment has traditionally been easier than in maths or science – where schools face competition from higher-paying private sector employers – there are shortages. Growing numbers of pupils are taught by staff without expertise in the subject.
This should be a source of profound concern, and also shame, in government. It is ministers’ job to oversee state schools. They are responsible for a situation in which becoming and remaining a teacher have become less attractive. Gillian Keegan is the seventh education secretary in five years. It does not appear that any of them have grasped the problem. Without teachers, teaching cannot take place. The difficulties are most severe in disadvantaged schools and areas, meaning that attainment gaps can be expected to increase.
There is no great mystery about causes. In 2019, after recruitment targets had been missed for six years in a row, the government announced plans to remove barriers to part-time teaching, and reduce the workloads that are repeatedly cited as a reason why teachers quit. Where bursaries were introduced to fund training in some subjects, shortages eased off (these are being brought back for English this year). But pay remains too low, after years of freezes and budget cuts, and this year’s average rise of 5% was only half the rate of inflation (and lower than increases in Scotland and Wales).
The pressures remain intense. Teachers are subjected to a form of inspection, in Ofsted, that is not faced by other professionals. The inspectorate’s response to the recent death of the headteacher Ruth Perry was not sufficient to allay concerns about unmanageable stress. Schools cope with a huge range of issues, from sexual harassment and bullying, to the difficulties that some children bring with them from home. In a context where social care, special needs and mental healthcare thresholds have all been raised by councils, sometimes schools are the only places where families feel they can turn for help – or offload frustration. Given that the UK has a younger teaching workforce than most comparable countries, it is unsurprising that some become overwhelmed when forced to assume responsibilities for which they are not ready. Teaching also lacks the flexibility, and options for home working, that other graduate employers increasingly offer.
In relation to English, specifically, the shortage of teachers is linked to falling numbers learning the subject. A-level entries are down to 54,000 from 90,000 in 2012, and here, too, ministers are partly to blame. Their reforms stripped creativity and critical thinking out of the curriculum, particularly at GCSE level, while rhetoric about the importance of Stem subjects, especially maths, reduced the status of other subjects – even if this was unintended. Routes into teacher training have also become more complicated.
The danger is that problems become self‑reinforcing, as the churn in staff makes schools less stable places. But pay and working conditions must be improved if we want children to thrive. The Conservatives’ recent approach to schools, including Boris Johnson’s refusal to fund a recommended pandemic recovery package, has been negligent. The damage will take time to repair. At a minimum, Ms Keegan should publish the report of the independent pay review body, as unions have requested, and press the Treasury to fund the recommended 6.5% increase.