There has been a marked increase in headteacher vacancies compared with 2020 levels amid warnings that the government’s latest response to the pandemic could drive school leaders out of the profession.
New data, shared with Tes by TeachVac, reveals that headteacher vacancies rose by 18 per cent when comparing the first three months of 2020 (957) with the same period this year (1,125).
Figures also show that secondary school teacher vacancies are now at their highest point in at least five years.
The figures come after union leaders wrote to the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, warning that a lack of recognition of the impact of Covid on schools and the reintroduction of league tables this summer will be “the final straw” for school leaders.
TeachVac is a national vacancy service, and it checks each vacancy to avoid duplication in its data.
It identified 329 headteacher vacancies in January this year, 378 in February and 418 in March.
The three-month period between January and the end of March each year normally includes about half of the annual total vacancies for headteacher posts advertised, so it is thought to be a good indicator of the trend for the year.
The figures for headteacher vacancies after the three months in 2021 was much lower, at 761.
‘The final straw’ for headteachers
However, Professor John Howson, TeachVac’s chair, said that 2021 was hard to compare with other years due to little movement in the job market during the pandemic.
Vacancies at secondary level for headteacher positions after three months in 2022 also rose compared with 2020 from 214 to 230, a smaller rise of just 7 per cent.
Kate Atkinson, head of advice at school leaders’ union NAHT told Tes there were signs that heads have now had enough after two years of coping with the pandemic in schools.
She said: “There has been a real shift in the calls we’re getting from school leaders this year. Throughout the pandemic they have been determined to see their schools and their communities through the crisis, whatever the cost. But there is a real sense now that it has all got too much.
“School leaders have been under unremitting pressure for two years now - and that hasn’t gone away, despite the government’s insistence that Covid is over. Schools are still experiencing high levels of disruption from staff and pupil absence and illness - all of which head teachers and school leaders have to juggle.
”Add to that the constant threat of illness as school staff go down with Covid for the second, third, even fourth time - plus the general lack of support from government, who are actively removing school leaders’ ability to control outbreaks - and you can easily see why more and more of our members are feeling that enough is, finally, enough.”
Yesterday the NAHT and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) wrote a joint letter to Nadhim Zahawi warning that a failure to control the transmission of Covid in schools is making it difficult to “ensure pupils receive a high-quality education”.
The unions also said that allowing staff to contract Covid “often multiple times also has implications for their long-term health”.
They warned that the extreme stress staff are suffering will “exacerbate the recruitment and retention crisis”.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, and Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said that the decision to publish “meaningless data” on school performance will be the “final straw” for many school leaders, and will result in them stepping down from school leadership.
Commenting on today’s data, Mr Barton said ASCL was “not surprised to see that there has been an increase in headteacher and secondary school teacher vacancies”.
He added that while the impact of the pandemic “was to be expected”, the issue has been added to by the government “dumping many extra duties on schools” including “public health tasks”, offering little support, producing “bewildering and contradictory guidance at different points”, “cajoled and threatened” schools, “and has now pronounced that Covid is over despite huge and ongoing disruption”.
“We have repeatedly warned of the impact of all this on mental health and wellbeing, of declining morale, and of the risk that this situation will further worsen recruitment and retention.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Teachers have and continue to be an incredible support for children and young people and are paramount to a child’s development and learning. We now have over 460,000 inspiring teachers in our classrooms across the country, which is 20,000 more than in 2010.
“Whilst teaching remains an attractive and fulfilling profession, we know improvement is needed in some areas to attract and retain staff. We are gathering evidence and continuing our ongoing work to better support school leaders and understand their views.”
