Commenting on the teacher workforce statistics, Dr Mary Bousted,
general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
(ATL), said: “The Department for Education must take the rise in
the number of teacher vacancies, widely recognised to be an
underestimate, as a clear message that it needs to act fast to
address the deepening teacher shortage crisis. If it fails to act
soon, even more schools will struggle to find a qualified teacher
for every class.
“We are concerned, although unsurprised, at the continuing
decline in the number of teachers staying in the profession for
longer than six years. Unless the Government does more to ensure
that teachers are supported in the early stages of their career
and to reduce teacher workload and burn-out this trend is likely
to continue.
“It is also not surprising that the number of people applying to
teach is stalling when teachers’ pay has been held down for eight
years and is not keeping pace with inflation. Today’s figures
show that between November 2015 and November 2016 there were just
an additional 400 full-time equivalent teachers, which is the
smallest annual increase in recent years. When the number of
secondary pupils is expected to increase 10% by 2020 (compared to
2016) it is especially worrying that the number of secondary
teachers fell by 2,700 (November 2015 to November 2016).
“The Government needs to end the public sector pay cap and
provide a significant and fully funded pay increase for teachers
to address the recruitment and retention crisis and ensure
students get the help and support they need.”
