Recruitment crisis having ‘detrimental impact’

Ongoing teacher shortages are having a damaging impact on the education schools can offer, according to a survey by the Association of School and College and Leaders (ASCL).

When questioned on the shortages, 84 per cent of the respondents claimed that it was having a detrimental impact, with 70 per cent having to use more supply staff, 73 per cent using teachers in subjects that are not their specialist areas, and 25 per cent merging classes.

The survey was answered by nearly 900 school and college leaders, the majority of whom represent secondary schools, both academy and maintained, and found that the difficulty of recruiting teaches was being felt by nine in 10, with a large majority of that (three quarters) deeming the situation as in a worse condition than 12 months ago.

The subjects experiencing the largest recruitment difficulties were maths, science and English, while problems with finding staff to teach languages, geography and history were also noted.All of the aforementioned subjects are part of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which the government wants 90 per cent of children to be taking at GCSE from 2020 onwards.

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the ASCL, said: “Teacher shortages leave schools with no option other than to use stop-gap solutions. Schools have to put teachers in front of classes. If they cannot recruit the staff they need, this means using supply staff and non-specialists to cover the gaps.

“While these staff often do a very good job in difficult circumstances, it is no substitute for having permanent teachers who are experts in their subjects. Without this supply of teachers there is a danger that some of the progress which has been made will be lost. It will certainly be extremely difficult if not impossible to raise standards further.”