Despite government efforts to the contrary, the number of teachers entering the profession is dropping each year, while those leaving only ever seems to increase. We ask: can anything be done to avert the crisis?
A crisis of teacher supply
Currently, aspiring teachers can gain entry to the profession through five different routes. These are: School Direct, Troops to Teachers, Teach First, School-Centred Initial Teacher Training and the traditional post-graduate route. Confusingly, the training and methods of each option vary, although the entry requirements are all the same.
Mr Lightman said: ‘We recognise the value of having a variety of routes into teaching... Different people are suited to different approaches. But it is an issue at the moment that people have found it very confusing to understand how to go about getting into teaching, and it has not always been obvious to them where they should look for objective advice about all the different routes.’
The demand for full-time teaching staff is high, but the challenge for schools looking to recruit is not the vacancies – in fact, one company recorded a 200 per cent year-on-year increase in permanent education placements at the start of this academic year – but finding candidates of sufficient quality and experience to fill them.
Mr Lightman explained: ‘Many schools all over the country report great difficulties in recruiting trainee teachers of the right calibre, newly qualified teachers in specialist subject areas, and also recruiting people into more senior posts, especially heads of departments in core subjects.’