Secondary school teacher vacancies have soared by up to 36 per cent above pre-pandemic levels in some regions, a Tes analysis of the latest data reveals.
Earlier this month Tes revealed that secondary school job vacancies had risen to their highest levels for at least six years and were showing “no sign of slowing”.
Now figures collected by SchoolDash and analysed by Tes suggest that the biggest proportional rises are being seen in the North West and South West of England.
Teacher recruitment ‘hyperactive’ post-pandemic
Across England, the number of teacher jobs advertised this academic year in England up to 1 March is 23 per cent higher than in the same period in 2018-2019, according to the data.
So far in 2022-23, 20,500 secondary vacancies have been recorded by SchoolDash, compared with 16,625 in the same period four years ago.
But the South West has seen a 35.7 per cent rise, with vacancy numbers increasing from 1,355 to 1,837.
Vacancy numbers in the North West have increased similarly, with 1,978 vacancies advertised so far this academic year, up from 1,502 (a rise of 31.7 per cent).
Dr Timo Hannay, founding managing director of SchoolDash, said in his blog published today that the “overall trend of hyperactive post-pandemic recruitment” is a national picture.
But he added that there are “considerable variations between regions”.
Increases were lower in the West Midlands, where vacancies increased from 1,499 to 1,629 (an 8.7 per cent rise) and in Yorkshire and the Humber, where vacancies increased from 1,087 to 1,166 (a 7.3 per cent rise).
In the North East, the number of job advertisements published in the academic year to date compared with the same period in 2018-19 actually fell by 10.9 per cent (from 504 to 449).
Rural schools see bigger rise in vacancies
As well as analysing regional disparities, SchoolDash also collected data on rural, suburban and urban-located schools.
Increases were larger in rural schools, where vacancies increased from 790 to 1,036 (a 31 per cent rise), while urban and suburban schools saw a lower but still substantial rise of 19 per cent.
In urban schools, vacancy numbers increased from 6,229 in 2018-19 to 7,441 this year, while in suburban schools, vacancies currently sit at 10,093, up from 8,457 four years ago.
The backdrop of low recruitment
Government data released last month revealed that applications to initial teacher training (ITT) courses had fallen by up to 37 per cent in some subjects.
The government failed to meet its ITT recruitment targets last year, with just 59 per cent of the target for secondary teacher trainee entrants being met.
