One in five secondary teacher trainee places unfilled

The number of vacant secondary places has increased from six per cent last year to 18 per cent, aggravating existing concerns about teacher shortages. Government statisticians set a target of 18, 451 new secondary trainees, however figures have shown just 15,114 were recruited.

While there has been an overall rise in the number of trainees this year, a growing student population and changes in the curriculum mean numbers have fallen short of targets, with only three subjects: History, English and PE, reaching its set goals.

In addition, non-English Baccalaureate courses recruited 64 per cent of the required number of trainees, with the lowest numbers affecting design and technology, which recruited just 41 per cent of its target.

The data has also found that targets have been missed for maths which recruited 93 per cent, languages, 87 per cent, Science 85 per cent, Geography 83 per cent and Computing 70 per cent.

John Cater, vice chancellor of Edge Hill University, Lancashire - one of the country's biggest teacher trainers - said: “For shortage subjects in secondary there is a real, substantial and significant problem. There are not enough people wanting to train to teach in mathematics, modern languages, the sciences or computing and that will have an impact on the delivery of the curriculum in those areas.

"The shortfall comes despite a rise in the number of people starting postgraduate teacher training courses this year."

The teacher training census reveals 28,148 trainees to have started courses, or due to start, including 1,548 Teach First trainees. This figure is significantly higher than last year, where 25,753 postgraduate trainees were recruited.

While primary courses have exceeded its 11,245 target, recruiting 13,034 trainees, this comes after years of under-recruitment.

Brian Lightman, Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, said: "We are extremely concerned at the significant shortfall in new trainee teachers in secondary subjects. This means that there are more than 3,400 fewer secondary trainees entering the profession this year than are needed.

"The government wants 90 per cent of pupils to sit GCSEs in the English Baccalaureate subjects. How will this be possible when there will clearly not be enough teachers for them?

“This is the third year in succession when the initial teacher training target has not been achieved. There is no doubt that this will have a serious impact on young people. It will inevitably mean that more classes will be taught by non-specialist staff and that there will be greater use of temporary cover. This is far from ideal and it is not what parents and children expect or deserve.

“We once again call on the government to take urgent action to address this situation."

James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), said: "Recruitment to secondary programmes is becoming increasingly challenging, and will become more so as pupil numbers go up.

"Although primary targets have been met, we remain concerned that the teacher supply model is under-estimating the number of new primary teachers that schools actually need.

”In challenging times such as this, the government must take care to maintain the teacher supply base provided by university/school partnerships on which schools depend. Uncertainty, and the potential chaos linked to the new recruitment methodology, are not helping with this. The government needs to exercise caution in its teacher education reforms, just in case they make a bad situation worse."

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