Watchdog warning of growing teacher shortage as targets missed for four years

THE GOVERNMENT has missed its teacher recruitment targets for the last four years despite spending £700m annually on their training, according to the National Audit Office (NAO)
A new NAO report raises concern about teacher recruitmentA new NAO report raises concern about teacher recruitment
A new NAO report raises concern about teacher recruitment

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A report released by the spending watchdog today also revealed that indicators suggest teacher shortages are growing.

Between 2011 and 2014, the rate of vacancies and temporarily filled positions more than doubled from 0.5 per cent of the teaching workforce to 1.2 per cent

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The head of the National Union of Teachers said the findings were a “sad indictment of the effect [government] education policies are having on the profession”.

However the Government has claimed it is trade unions that pose the biggest threat to teacher recruitment.

The NAO report states that the Department for Education (DfE) has a weak understanding of the extent of local teacher supply shortages and whether they are being locally resolved.

It highlights the problem in poorer areas, with some 54 per cent of leaders in schools with large proportions of disadvantaged pupils saying attracting and keeping good teachers was a major problem, compared with 33 per cent in other schools.

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Ofsted’s regional director for Yorkshire Nick Hudson has previously highlighted the need to improve leadership in some schools serving the poorest parts of the region.

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: “Training a sufficient number of new teachers of the right quality is key to the success of all the money spent on England’s schools the Department, however, has missed its recruitment targets for the last four years and there are signs that teacher shortages are growing.

“Until the Department meets its targets and can show how its approach is improving trainee recruitment, quality and retention, we cannot conclude that the arrangements for training new teachers are value for money.”

A DfE spokesman said: “This report makes clear that despite rising pupil numbers and the challenge of a competitive jobs market, more people are entering the teaching profession than leaving it, there are more teachers overall and the number of teachers per pupil haven’t suffered.

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“Indeed the biggest threat to teacher recruitment is that the teaching unions and others, use every opportunity to talk down teaching as a profession, continually painting a negative picture of England’s schools.

“The reality on the ground couldn’t be more different, with the quality of education in this country having been transformed by the most highly qualified teaching workforce in history, resulting in 1.4 million more pupils being taught in good and outstanding schools compared with five years ago.”

However shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: “This NAO report should be a further wake-up call for the Tory Government who have been in denial and neglectful about teacher shortages.

“The teacher recruitment and retention crisis is serious and growing, with schools struggling to get teachers with the right qualifications in front of classes in subjects vital to our country’s economic success,

Christine Blower, the general secretary of the NUT, said: “Under this Government teaching has become an unattractive profession and graduates are looking elsewhere for a career.