15th September 2017 1:00
By Blue Tutors
The education system in the UK is coming under strain from all sides, now underfunded and understaffed. The teacher shortage is no news; . The number of vacancies or temporarily filled positions doubled between 2011 and 2014, and has now up another 25% since 2015. Back in February 2017, the Education Select Committee concluded that the government has not done enough to avoid the crisis faced by schools trying to recruit qualified teachers and called for a long-term plan as the number of students is projected continue to rise steeply in the next ten years.
The UK employs 1.3 million people in its schools, with around half in full time teaching positions and the other half as assistants and support staff. This year there are a record breaking 13,969 full time teaching positions left unfilled, and although the rate of vacancies only represents 0.3% of full time equivalent positions, it means that almost a third of a million students are starting this school year without permanent teachers, half a million primary pupils are in oversized classes and 600,000 pupils are being taught by an unqualified teacher, as schools have to rely on supply staff and paying agencies for expensive emergency cover.
There are in fact more teachers than ever before in UK classrooms, but the number of children and therefore teaching places is growing faster than they can be filled. The problem is three-fold: there are both large numbers of teachers leaving the profession, fewer new teachers qualifying, and an increase in the number of school age children in the UK meaning more demand. The loss of the current teaching workforce is partly due to demography, with the ‘baby-boomers’ retiring, but the problem is much more widespread than this. A third of teachers joining in 2010 were found to have left within just five year. Where are they all going? Anywhere but state schools: the private sector, or out of the UK or leaving teaching entirely. 86% of those teachers sites the “workload and pressures” as the main reason for the leaving the profession according to data gathered by the National Union of Teachers.
If it is the workload that is driving teachers out of the profession, the assault on pay and pensions over the last few years has dramatically reduced the attractiveness of teaching as a career choice. Teachers are now £5000 per year worse off in real terms than in 2010 because of the public sector pay policy. As a result, the last few years have seen a consistent 10% drop in the numbers of graduates training as teachers each year, meaning there are not enough qualified teachers to fill these gaps in current demand, or enough in the pipeline to meet future requirements. Some subjects are hit harder than others; the sciences are of particular concern with many now being taught by unqualified teachers. The shortage has become so severe that in January the government relaxed its immigration restrictions after the Migratory Advisory Committee put maths, computer science and science teachers on the Shortage Occupation List. But simply plugging the gap with teachers from abroad does not sole this home-grown problem.
What can we do now?
There are two ways to close the gap: increase supply or decrease demand. The later would involve increasing hours for existing teachers, who are already overworked, or increasing class size. Arguably that is the best solution, with a small increase in class size making little difference to academic performance yet producing a large impact on the demand for teachers. Many schools have been forced to do this, ‘supersizing’ classes as a temporary measure, but it is a politically unattractive move and unlikely to be adopted any time soon.
So, to increase the supply of teachers there are again two key areas to target – improve numbers going into teaching and improve retention. Both of these can be done my improving the working conditions for teachers. Teaching has a serious PR issue after years of headlines outlining blow after blow to pay, pensions and the pressures put on teachers in UK schools. Hopefully more attractive work environment and pay, with additional financial incentives and more flexible options for qualifying, could see the status and so numbers of would be teachers bouncing back in time to bridge the gap.