Teacher’s Pet: Government Recruitment Targets Fall Short for the Profession

A damning report has been released shaming the Government’s recruitment efforts for the teaching profession. The costly recruitment drive has a price tag of £700 million a year, however there is still a severe shortage of teachers to deal with growing pupil numbers.

Studious Statistics

The National Audit Office (NAO) has found that the number of teachers leaving the profession has increased by 11%, with the number of positions being filled temporarily increasing – from 0.5 to 1.2% since 2010/11.

There’s particular trouble for the subject pf Physics too – as 28% of Physics teachers don’t have an A-level qualification in the subject. Additionally, training courses for 14 of the 17 available secondary school subjects now have vacancies on them – up from just 2 in 2010/11.

Classroom Debates

Whereas the NAO argues the Government is missing a trick by only monitoring vacancies and not looking at the wider stresses and strains inflicted by staff taking on extra responsibilities in response to such vacancies, the Government has fought back.

On their side of the debate they argue that it’s the stronger economy that has created more jobs, and that there are 13,100 more teachers today than when the Government came into office. They also state that the ratio of teachers to pupils is stable and that more teachers are re-entering the workplace.

Charting the Education Career Path

The Government is looking to expand the number of availabe routes into the profession to increase the availability of talent. Although the University route is traditional and commonly used, on-the-job training is now available in schools to teach people how to teach in the classroom, and people with transferrable skills in other industries are also being offered the chance to become a teacher.

What We Think

It’s no secret that the teaching profession can be a stressful one! But the wonderful reward of nurturing young minds surely makes this career a firm favourite for many. You can view all of RR’s education-related vacancies on our search page.