Schools are struggling to find new teachers, says union

ALMOST eight in 10 school leaders find it a struggle to recruit teachers, a new survey has found.

A poll of 2,135 head teachers in England and Wales found that 79% of those who had advertised vacancies said recruitment was a problem.

For posts with a teaching and learning responsibility payment and special educational needs co-ordinators, only 14% of respondents filled their vacancies with ease.

According to research conducted by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), the main difficulty in recruiting was the overall shortage of applicants (in 52% of cases).

Respondents reported the growing problem of teachers leaving the profession in their area, with the figure more than doubling in the past year – having been cited by 33% of heads, up from 15% in 2014.

The ongoing struggle to recruit means that nearly half of schools now use recruitment agencies to fill their permanent roles and 69% of those said that they do so as they have failed to recruit previously.

The NAHT said the issue was adding significantly to schools’ recruitment costs, which average £3,000 per vacancy but can run up to £10,000.

Rob Williams, policy director at NAHT Cymru, said many schools were struggling to maintain current staffing levels due to budgetary pressures and redundancy of both teachers and support staff had increased as a result.

“This, in turn, may impact upon the workplace environment and the sense of job security,” said Mr Williams.

“Teacher recruitment can be challenging in certain areas and within certain sectors. For example, more rural areas can sometimes experience difficulties and Welsh-medium settings have reported to us that they have struggled on occasion to recruit staff with the required high level of Welsh language skills.”

Russell Hobby, the union’s general secretary, said criticism of the teaching profession was a “serious deterrent” to recruitment and retention.

A spokesman for the Welsh Government said the overall teaching vacancy rate in Wales remained “very low”, adding: “We are committed to recruiting the right individuals with the appropriate qualifications, commitment, skills and qualities into the profession which is why training incentives are available in Wales to encourage high performing graduates to consider teaching as a career.”