27,500 teachers who trained between 2011 and 2015 had already left the teaching profession by 2016. That means that just over 23% of about 117,000 teachers who qualified over the period have left. New research by the Education Policy Institute found that half of full-time teachers work between 40 and 58 hours a week, whilst a fifth of full-time teachers are working up to 60 hours a week, 19% longer than the average elsewhere of 40.6 hours.

These extortionate hours leave teachers no time for quality of life forcing many skilled teachers choosing to take huge pay cuts and work as teaching assistants rather than contend with the vast workload expected of them.These alarming figures add further concerns and pressures to a profession that’s already in crisis and when demands for the government to remove the 1% pay cap that has been placed on teacher salaries until 2020.  

Tory MPs have complained the overall schools budget is too small and needs to be increased. Teaching unions have been urging ministers to lift the pay cap. They also want to make it cheaper for teachers to train and to introduce measures to encourage teachers to stay in post in areas with significant recruitment problems. Over worked and stressed, many teachers are taking lower skilled roles or leaving the profession altogether.   

Following the election chaos Education Secretary Justine Greening, has demanded an extra £1.2bn from the government and is in support of both relaxing the pay cap and increasing public spending on schools. However she is one of a series of cabinet ministers making spending demands on Philip Hammond, the Chancellor.  

Angela Rayner, the Shadow Education Secretary, who uncovered the figures showing the number of teachers leaving the profession, said they highlighted the “sheer scale of the crisis that the Tories have created in teacher recruitment and retention”. “Teachers are leaving our classrooms in record numbers, and the crisis is getting worse year after year. We are now at the point that more teachers are leaving than staying,” she said. “The government has serious questions to answer on the impact of their policies such as the continued cap on public sector pay, and their failure to tackle the issues like excessive workload that affect teachers in the classroom. The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said that the statistics were proof of the strain teachers are under, adding that the profession is at “crisis point”. “It is time that ministers finally admitted that we are at a crisis point, and came up with a proper plan of action to deal with it.”

The Department for Education said the rate of teachers leaving after just a year had remained stable for decades, adding that some teachers were returning to the classroom after quitting. A spokesman said: “Teaching remains an attractive career and the latest statistics show that around 90% of teachers continue in the profession following their first year of teaching – this has been the case since 1996. The number of former teachers coming back to the classroom has also risen significantly – from 13,090 in 2011 to 14,200 in 2016.” “We are actively addressing the issues that teachers cite as reasons for leaving the profession, for example by supporting schools to reduce unnecessary workload and improving behaviour management training for new teachers. Teachers play a hugely important role in our society, providing education and guidance for future generations.”  

Applying for a job let alone being offered a job that you were not qualified in would have been unheard of a few years ago. However, this the stark reality facing many schools in England today; teachers teaching subjects they do not have a relevant degree in. Nearly 37.5 per cent of Physics teachers do not have any post-A Level qualification despite the fact thousands of children rely upon them to help them pass exams. This figure has risen by 4 percentage points in just 2 years and there are no signs of it stopping.

The recruitment crisis in Education has seen its biggest teacher shortages. 27.1 per cent of chemistry teachers and 26.3 per cent of maths teachers do not have a degree in the subject, both rising 3.2 and 3.9 percentage points respectively in two years.    

Computer Science/ICT, English, History, Geography, French and other languages are also the top subjects facing shortages. More than half of Spanish teachers did not study the language yet were teaching a class full of optimistic pupils. On a positive note subjects such as Drama, Media Studies and Citizenship have seen a rise in the number of teachers qualifying. John Pugh said: “The Government need to get a grip on this crisis. We need to stop allowing schools to be able to grab virtually anyone off the street and allow them to teach anything from physics to advanced maths.” “We need to support teachers rather than what the Government currently do – finding every opportunity to do the profession down.”

According to a survey by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) 68 per cent of staff said in the past year the number of professionals teaching subjects they were not qualified in had increased. The reason for this is down to a combination of the school funding crisis, lack of support and training particularly for Newly Qualified Teachers, shortage of teachers and growing class sizes. Schools are desperate and going to any lengths just to keep a float. As a result, the quality of teaching drops and the pupils learning begins to suffer. Members of the NUT have threatened to hold a national strike next term over budget cuts, job losses and pay caps.  

England’s schools are facing its major challenge in recruiting and retaining teachers and senior leaders, MPS from the Education Select Committee have warned. Key subject areas such as Maths, Physics and Computing were the hardest hit. For the fifth year in a row the government has failed to deal with the problem resulting in missing recruitment targets. In a highly critical new report by the education select committee it calls for urgent action, including more focus on retaining teachers once they are in the classroom. It was revealed a third of teachers who began teaching in 2015 quit the profession within the first five years. One of the suggestions put forward is capping on the number of hours teachers work as high workload was one of reasons why so many are leaving the profession.    

MPs have pointed out while ministers have recognised there are issues, there is no long-term plan to address the recruitment crisis. They suggest there should be greater efforts to keep teachers from leaving the profession and moving to other jobs. It is more cost effective than recruiting new teachers and would strengthen the pool of future leadership candidates. Workload is not the only reason teachers are leaving the profession. It is a combination of factors including constant curriculum and policy changes, pay cuts, lack of support and finally government pressure which then led to poor health and feeling undervalued. In order to raise the status of the teaching profession, and improve retention, teachers must be entitled to high-quality, relevant continuing professional development throughout their careers. This must include a focus on subject-specific knowledge and skills to allow teachers to continually develop their practice and to create future leaders.  

Teaching is becoming a young person’s game
Pupils are in danger of losing valuable, highly experienced teachers as schools begin to recruit more and more NQTs over older teachers. Schools are reluctant to employ experienced teachers because they have to pay higher salaries compared to NQTs. Even though there are many excellent NQTs, pupils often end-up losing out through inexperienced teachers. Many have great skills but will lack the knowledge and competence that comes only with years of teaching.  

The concern here is teaching is beginning to be seen as something you can really do when you are free of life’s other commitments – not surprising based on the current demands of the role. Many teachers work late into the evening and weekend working has become the norm. Young, energetic teachers with fresh ideas are highly welcomed in schools however they need guidance, support and advice which only comes from those who have devoted ten plus years in the classroom, taught hundreds of children, encountered all abilities of learning and have learnt from endless mistakes. With no one there to mentor the new generation of teachers it’s no surprise that NQTs are not lasting in the profession. Being in the middle of a recruitment and retention crisis schools do not have the luxury to be a young domain and the highly experienced older teachers are a luxury to them.  

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said "This report should act as a wake-up call to ministers that falling back on sticking plaster solutions such as the failed National Teaching Service will do nothing to address the systemic causes of the teacher supply crisis." A Department for Education spokesman said “There are more teachers in England’s schools than ever before with secondary postgraduate recruitment at it’s highest since 2011." He said more than £1.3 billion would be invested in recruitment over this parliament, and that more trainees in physics and maths were recruited this year than last year. “The secretary of state has set out her ambition to continue driving up standards through investment in professional development so the best teachers stay in the profession,” he added. Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said the government was "failing to deliver on its most basic of tasks." "Recruitment targets are being missed, school budgets are being cut for the first time in decades and we have thousands more unqualified teachers teaching in our schools," she said, adding that "children deserve better."  

Headteachers say they are struggling to recruit professionals to teach core subjects likes English, maths and science.

This is according to a new survey by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which noted that 44 per cent of school leaders have vacancies in English posts, 52 per cent in maths and 50 per cent in science.

Further compounding this shortage of teachers is a fall in the number of youngsters going to university - principally because of high tuition fees - and a rise in the number of children entering secondary school.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the ASCL, called on the next government to make sure “schools and colleges can recruit and retain the highest calibre of staff”.

“The existing teacher supply model does not work,” he continued. “Schools all over the country are experiencing unprecedented difficulties recruiting trainees, qualified teachers, middle and senior leaders.

“The next government must act urgently to ensure that effective processes are put in place to model numbers of teachers needed in each sector and region and then promote the status and value of teaching as a profession.”

The ASCL has developed a ten-point plan to help alleviate the “teacher supply crisis”, which it says both the government and the profession can work to deliver.

Some of the recommendations include reviewing and adapting the current teacher supply model, expanding the number of schools that are capable of delivering initial teacher training and launching a “profession-led” campaign to get more people into teaching.

“Teaching remains a great job which continues to offer people a rewarding and fulfilling career,” Mr Lightman went on to say.

“It is vital that the profession and government work together to emphasise this positive message. Teaching must be promoted as a high-status profession and a proposed Royal College of Teaching, to set standards and encourage professional learning, would help to do this.”