School spending on job adverts sees 61 per cent increase

The money schools are spending on advertising job vacancies has risen by 61 per cent since 2010, according to figures obtained by the Labour Party.

Freedom of information (FoI) requests to a sample of more than 120 schools suggests the total spend on job ads last year hit £5 million, with some individual schools spending as much as £80,000 a year.

The Labour Party suggests this is another result of the growing teacher recruitment and retention crisis, with the proportion of schools having to re-advertise after failing to fill a post doubling over the past year.

Former Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell has said that the teacher crisis is ‘one of the biggest issues facing our schools’, calling on the government to ditch the ‘terrible idea’ of increasing the number of grammar schools and focus on the real problem.

She said: “Justine Greening must turn the page on the Tories’ education policy and focus on what improves standards, excellent teachers, in the classroom with the right skills and support to deliver for children.

“Our children and schools are paying a significant price for the Tories’ teacher shortage crisis. Ministers have spent the last six years constantly doing down the teaching profession, causing record numbers of staff to quit, and botching recruitment, missing their targets for four years in a row.

“Justine Greening now has an opportunity to hit the reset button and turbocharge plans to recruit and retain enough teachers.”