Not once, not twice, not thrice but five years in a row the government has failed in its teaching recruitment; adding even more pressure on schools. The last ten years has seen the highest rate of teachers leaving the teaching profession, this comes as a blow for the Conservatives who have failed to reach their own target for new recruits.

Subjects such as maths and science that are key boosting the UK’s competitiveness are among the worst hit. Other subjects that fell 15% of their targets are physics, design and technology, computing and business studies. The only subjects that met the required recruitment levels were PE, history, biology, geography, English and chemistry – albeit the latter two narrowly missed them. About 6,000 trainee teachers began courses after achieving a 2:2 or lower in their degree subject, and less than half of trainees are studying for their qualifications in universities. Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, said it amounted to a teacher training crisis that would lead to shortages. “Every year the government miss their targets and it’s subjects that are crucial to our future economy that are worst hit,” she said. “The Tories really need to get a grip on this. They are failing in their most basic job in education – providing enough teachers for our schools.” In their defence, the latest figures from the Department of Education (DfE) showed that teaching still continued to be an attractive career. “Secondary postgraduate recruitment is at its highest level since 2011 and we have recruited more trainees in key subjects including physics, maths, modern foreign languages, biology, chemistry and geography than we did last year,” said a DfE spokeswoman. “The quality of new entrants also continues to be high, with 18% of this year’s cohort again holding a first-class degree – the highest on record and up from 10% in 2010-11. This shows that teaching is as popular as ever among the most talented graduates. “But we recognise that there are challenges, which is why we are investing more than £1.3bn over this parliament so we can continue to attract the brightest and best into teaching.” Recruitment was up by 12% in maths this year compared with last year, and by 15% in physics.  

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has previously expressed its concern over the problems with excessive workload and pay cuts that are leading to the crisis in teacher recruitment and retention. Last year government figures showed a third of teachers who started a teaching career in 2010 left the profession within five years. More than 50,000 teachers left the profession before retirement last year, the highest number for more than a decade. More teachers are leaving the job than joining, a third of teachers who started a teaching career in 2010 left the profession within five years.  

Unprotected budget
Schools will need to tighten their belts even more so over the coming years. School budgets have not been protected in real terms nor will it increase in this parliament. The DfE estimates that schools will need to find savings, or cuts, of £3 billion, equivalent to an 8 per cent real-terms reduction in per-pupil funding between 2014-15 and 2019-20. For primary schools, that could add up to a cut, per pupil, of £447 a year, and for secondary schools, it could reach £658 a year, per pupil. These cuts will hit staff (we are already seeing some the effects already) with the overall impact on every child.  

Glimpse of hope
There is a glimpse of hope from the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) who received over 21,000 registrations of interest in teaching in the last academic year. Routes into teaching are open that ever, however unless the fundamental issues that are driving current teachers out are not fixed, how will the new generation of teachers cope?