By Gavin Mackintosh-
Secondary Schools are struggling to find good staff with many blaming the crisis on teacher shortages and funding pressures, according to a report.
This is the third year running, that head teachers have reported problems with recruiting all types of school staff, from teachers to senior leaders, a National Association of Head teachers (NAHT) survey found.
In total, nearly eight in 10 (79%) vacant posts were considered “difficult to recruit to”, while more than one in six (17%) on average went unfilled. The news is disturbing a
Government Failing In Its Responsibility
NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said three years of warnings have generated no results by the government in its responsibility to guarantee enough decent teachers to meet the needs of England’s schools. The Government recognises that some schools face recruitment challenges in a competitive economy.
In the third National Association of Teacher’s annual recruitment survey questioning more than 1,000 school leaders, it emerged that over half (57%)of schools cited teacher shortages in their area as one of the main issues in relation to the recruitment of staff.
The U.K Telegraph stated that two-fifths of schools struggled to fill posts,(42%) due to the numbers of teachers leaving the profession. This figure has gone up by nine percent compared with last year when a third (33%) gave this as a key reason.
UK Secondary Schools And Budget Pressures
22% of school leaders cite budget pressures as a reason for problems with teacher recruitment, with more than a fifth (22%) saying citing this as a problem, compared with 9% two years ago in 2014.
Housing and living costs were also given as a barrier to teacher recruitment, this being a particular issue in London and the South East. 70% of those surveyed said they had used supply teachers at a high cost to cover for teacher vacancies. 41% said senior leaders had covered lessons.
Concerns about teacher shortages have not disappeared, with many secondary schools still lagging behind when it comes to quality in the teaching profession. Many secondary schools in the UK are below par in the development of their children, with many 12 and 13-year old’s too underdeveloped for their age compared with age group in other European schools, ane even far less developed than their peers in Chinese, African, and Asian secondary schools.
The eye of media.com has been liaising with education departments in a number of countries in conducting research about education standards between U.K primary and secondary public schools in the UK and schools in other parts of the world. We have involved a number of UK University lecturers in the assessment of our research.
A separate research that compares grammar and private schools in the U.K with other top schools is ongoing , with U.K schools-grammar and private schools -measuring up very well so far. The research is ongoing. The UK government needs to urgently address these issues, though current teachers in various secondary schools also need higher levels of training to equip them to bring the very best from their students.Our findings will be published at their conclusion with useful recommendations presented alongside.