Teacher recruitment falls significantly due to pandemic

Recruitment of teachers by schools in England was down by about 50-60% mid-March compared to the same period last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school closures. 

School Dash found that there has been particularly large reductions in the core subjects of maths, science and English, but substantial falls have been seen in all subject areas. By 3 April, just over two weeks after the announcement of school closures, these year-on-year variances amounted to about 2,000 fewer teacher vacancy advertisements than would be expected if activity had remained normal for this time of year. 

A survey of teachers conducted at the end of March indicated that many of those who had previously been considering changing job have since reconsidered. It therefore seems likely that teacher turnover this year will be lower than usual, reducing the number of vacancies that schools have to fill.

A survey of school leaders showed that many of them – especially those in secondary schools – have delayed their recruitment activities as a result of the pandemic, often because they are trying to work out how to interview and select teachers while schools are closed and social-distancing measures in effect.

These results are also described in an accompanying joint paper by the Gatsby Foundation, Teacher Tapp and SchoolDash: 'Vacancies and Viruses: Teacher Recruitment in the Time of a Pandemic'.

SchoolDash tracks recruitment activity at secondary schools, sixth-form colleges and further-education colleges in England by indexing their websites every night and compiling data on new vacancies found there.