EB / News / Recruitment / 79 per cent of school leaders are facing recruitment problems, research suggests
79 per cent of school leaders are facing recruitment problems, research suggests
EB News: 09/12/2015 - 11:37
The NAHT recruitment survey warns of a growing recruitment problem in schools, with 52 per cent of respondents stating the main reason for shortages was a lack of applications.
The survey was completed by 2,135 school leaders in October and November 2015. It highlights particular problems in filling posts with a teaching and learning responsibility payment (TLR) and Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), with only 14 per cent of vacancies being filled with ease.
33 per cent reported a growing problem with teachers leaving the profession in their area, up from 15 per cent last year. School leaders in London and the South East also reported recruitment difficulties due to high housing and living costs, with 63 per cent of respondents from inner London citing this as an issue.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of NAHT, will present these findings to MPs as part of his response to the Education Select Committee’s session on the supply of teachers.
Hobby said: “Schools rightly have autonomy over HR practices, but we should be able to expect the government to supply the basics for them to work within – funding, buildings and, of course, enough high quality people. The Education Committee today asks whether there is a crisis in the recruitment of teachers and school leaders; our evidence clearly shows that there is.
“The volume of criticism deployed by successive governments is a serious deterrent to recruitment and retention, and the jump in the number of those reporting teachers leaving the profession is a concern. Teachers need to believe they can and do make a difference. It is possible to be both proud of past achievements and ambitious for more: governments need to develop a better way of engaging with the profession for improvement.”
Ofsted has announced it will be holding a programme of sector engagement events in September to go alongside the final set of education inspection reforms.
Overstretched children’s social care services has led to an alarming number of children leaving the care system and becoming homeless, not in employment or not in education, according to a report by the Education Committee.
A new report suggests the free schools programme in England has generally had positive impacts on pupil outcomes at secondary, including GCSE and A-Level attainment and secondary school absence.
A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) finds that the Department for Education (DfE) lacks a coherent plan, suitable targets and sufficient evidence of what works as it seeks to improve teacher recruitment and retention.