Written by Ellen
There have been several changes in the teaching profession over the past 10 years. There has been a general decline in the ratio of teachers to students at secondary school level and increase in the creation of alternative teaching methods, such as apprenticeships.
The government estimates than an additional 13,800 teachers will be needed in England by 2020/21; however, the number of teachers entering initial teacher training has been declining across the UK. On average there are 5 more students per teacher now, than there were 5 years ago. This is a result of a population increase as well as the most qualified teachers tending to teach in more affluent areas. Recruitment of teachers in rural or poorer areas, for mathematics and science, has been particularly difficult over the past 5 years.
This graph shows which subjects fell below recruitment targets for initial teacher training in 2019-20:
House of Commons Library (2019) ‘Teacher recruitment and retention in England.’
The increase in population, especially in urban areas, has created a demand for school places. An increase of children born in the UK to non-UK-born women has caused an educational attainment gap in basic maths and English at primary school levels. This has increased demands for support staff, in primary and secondary, that can give additional sessions to those who are falling behind.
The amount of newly qualified teachers that do not stay in the teaching profession is worryingly high. 32% of newly qualified teachers in 2016 were recorded as not working in the education sector in 2020.
The government has provided several financial incentives aimed to encourage the recruitment of trainee teachers, including bursaries and scholarships. Since 2018, the government have been trialling the use of early career payments for teachers in certain subjects if they are still employed as a teacher 5 years after their training. A new government teacher vacancy website was rolled out in 2019 to advertise vacancies more easily. The government have highlighted efforts to reduce the workload on teachers as a means of encouraging teacher retention; however, surveys taken after new measures were introduced in 2016 concluded that a teacher’s workload was still not acceptable.
In January 2019, the department for education published a Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, which improves on the initial Early Career payments. It will include an entitlement to “a fully-funded, 2-year package of structured support for all early career teachers” including 5% funded off timetable time in the second year of teaching. The Framework will be rolled out nationally from September 2021, with early roll-out from September 2020 in the North East and other selected areas.
Overall, there are plenty of teaching vacancies in the current job market. The subjects with the least competition include mathematics, science and languages. Because of the issues in teacher retention, if you stayed in the teaching career you could receive Early Career payments as a ‘thank you’ for remaining in the teaching profession.
Useful links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/teacher-workforce-statistics-and-analysis
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