24th April 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
New figures have been released which show that an increasing number of state-funded schools are hiring unqualified teachers. The rise in qualified teachers was precipitated by the Education Secretary’s decision to allow academies and free schools to employ staff without standard teaching qualifications. The figures released by the department for education show that after years of steadily falling rates of unqualified teachers, there has been a sharp rise since the introduction of academies and free schools. The figures show that the number of unqualified teachers has climbed from 14,800 to 17,100 in under three years. The revelation has provoked anger from teaching unions, and concern from parents whose children attend academies and free schools.
The number of classroom teachers who do not have qualified teacher status working in Academies and free schools has risen from 2,600 to nearly 8,000, meaning that of the 141,000 full-time teachers employed in both types of school, almost 6% are not qualified teachers. The trend is particularly marked in free schools, where unqualified teachers make up 13% of the full-time teaching staff. This is in sharp comparison to the statistics of state-funded schools overall, where unqualified teachers account for 3.8% of the full time teaching staff. There has also been a sharp rise in the number of teaching assistance employed, and there are now three TAs for every four teachers. The number of TAs has risen from 79,000 to 243,000 since 2000, a trend which is a cause for concern given that TAs tend to have fewer qualifications.
The shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has said that the figures are shocking, and put entry requirements for teaching in England amongst some of the lowest in the world. The revelation has spurred on the opposition’s education campaign, which has long held the policy that all state-employed school teachers would either have qualified teacher status or being the process of obtaining it. The National Union of Teachers has also expressed concern after the revelations, pointing to cases where teachers and even head teachers have been removed because their lack of qualifications made them unsuitable for the position. They pointed out that even if a teacher is an expert in their field, it does not imply that they are able to convey their knowledge to students in an appropriate and meaningful way.