Call for teachers' hours to be capped to help tackle '˜worsening' shortage

According to the latest report from the Education select committee, successive failures to meet recruitment and retention targets in the profession has created a “major” staffing challenge for the country’s schools.

The group claims this shortage is being felt hardest in certain regions – particularly rural areas – and in key subjects such as computing, physics and maths.

They suggest measures to reduce teaching workloads and raise the status of the profession could be the key to easing pressure on an already stretched system.

The stark report from the cross-party committee is the latest in a series of similar warnings about the lack of newly trained and experienced workers in the education sector.

Last year, a survey by the National Association of Headteachers found that schools were struggling to fill eight out of 10 vacant posts, while the head of Huntington School in York, John Tomsett, has suggested the sector is in the middle of a recruitment crisis.

The Government has launched several schemes designed to address these challenges in recent years, including a National Teacher Service which provided incentives for “high-performing” teachers to take on roles in schools in rural and coastal areas.

This was scrapped last year, but the Department of Education has also rolled-out its new Opportunity Areas programme, including a £75 million fund to improve professional development programmes for teachers and school leaders.

However, the MPs warn that rising pupil numbers combined with numerous changes to education policy has continued to exacerbate the problem.

They suggest the Government should “hold fire” on any further educational reform, to allow schools to focus on professional development “rather than being distracted by the demands of the latest Whitehall directive”.

They also call on ministers to consider options such as “capping” the number of hours teachers work outside of teaching time, in order to address concerns around “unmanageable workloads”.

And they recommend that the DfE draws up a long-term plan to boost recruitment across those subjects and regions where the staffing shortage is particularly acute.

Commenting on the findings, committee chairman and Tory MP Neil Carmichael said: “The quality of education our children receive fundamentally relies on the quality of teachers in our schools.

“[But] schools are facing significant teacher shortages as a result of the Government consistently failing to meet recruitment targets.

“The Government must now put in place a long-term plan to tackle the problems of recruiting and retaining teachers, and address issues such as teacher workload and access to professional development, which can drive teachers away from the classroom and into alternative careers.”

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, added: “This report should act as a wake-up call to ministers.

“It is the Government’s own policies [that] are driving existing teachers out of the profession, sapped of energy... and deterring new entrants.”