School staff vacancies surge in Shropshire with teacher shortages at 'crisis point'

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said teacher shortages are at a "crisis point" and has urged the Government to address falling recruitment and retention.

Data from teaching jobs site TeachVac shows primary and secondary schools in Shropshire posted 427 vacancies through its website over the course of last year – up by 63 per cent on 262 the year before.

Of these, 181 were advertised by primary schools and 246 by secondary schools.

In the Telford and Wrekin area there were 420 vacancies posted on the website over the course of last year – up by 49 per cent on 281 the year before.

Of these, 101 were advertised by primary schools and 319 by secondary schools.

Across England, teacher vacancies increased significantly in 2022 as the profession faced increasing recruitment and retention pressures following the coronavirus pandemic.

Job listings on TeachVac increased from 64,283 in 2021 to 107,104 last year.

Some jobs can be listed more than once if they are not initially filled, and not every teaching vacancy is posted to the TeachVac site.

At the end of last week there were 18 vacancies in the area advertised on the site, ranging from teaching assistants to three primary school headteachers and two deputy headteachers.

Teacher vacancies were divided between primary and secondary schools.

The head of the secondary Charlton School in Wellington, Andy McNaughton, said:

"At Charlton we remain fortunate that we are fully staffed with subject specialists in all areas but have noticed ourselves a reduction in the number of applications he have received for the posts we have advertised.

"We are aware through discussion with colleagues in other schools of the challenges schools are facing, not only recruiting teachers but also teaching assistants and admin support staff."

The ASCL said teacher shortages nationally are in crisis, with 95 per cent of schools reporting they have struggled to recruit new teachers in the past.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said the Government repeatedly misses trainee recruitment targets, and nearly a third of new teachers leave the profession within five years of qualifying.

He said: "This is the result of a decade of real terms pay cuts which have eroded the value of salaries and workload pressures caused by government underfunding of education, leaving staff doing more work with fewer resources.

"If schools cannot put teachers in front of classes, they cannot possibly maintain and improve educational standards.

"The Government must work with the profession on a strategy to improve teacher recruitment and retention and back this up with sufficient funding."

Across the country, the increase in teacher vacancies through TeachVac was largely driven by state schools, where job advertisements increased by 68 per in 2022, compared with 52per cent for independent schools.

In Shropshire, state school advertisements jumped by 58 per cent, while private school vacancies rose from 44 to 82. Figures for Telford and Wrekin showed state school advertisements jumped by 55 per cent, while private school vacancies fell from 16 to 10.

The Department for Education said there are 24,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools than in 2010.

A spokesperson said tax-free bursaries worth up to £27,000 and a new £3,000 premium encourage trainees to teach subjects including maths, physics, chemistry and computing.

"We are making the highest pay awards in a generation – five per cent for experienced teachers and more for those early in their careers, including an up to 8.9 percent increase to starting salary."

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of teaching trade union NASUWT, said: "The crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is the product of 12 years of failure by a Government that has lost the confidence of the teaching profession.

"It is little wonder that the Government’s failure to invest in the profession has resulted in many experienced teachers and headteachers quitting the profession prematurely as a consequence of real terms pay cuts and ever-rising workload pressures."