More than half of colleges are experiencing staff shortages in maths, and a third are in need of English teachers, a new survey has revealed.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) survey found 56 per cent of respondents reporting a maths teacher shortage - with 36 per cent lacking staff to teach English.

Colleges told the survey, which is published today, they were in competition with schools, which often offer better terms and conditions, and workload and student numbers could also be off-putting.

To attract more teachers in English and maths into FE, more than half of respondents thought compulsory placements for secondary PGCE students in FE settings a good idea. 

Funding condition

Pressure on staffing in English and maths has increased significantly since it was made a condition of funding for colleges that students with a grade 3 in English or maths GCSE should resit the qualification.

According to the AoC survey, while all colleges comply with the requirement to enter students for GCSE if they have achieved a grade 3, 43 per cent of respondents also enter 16 to 18-year-old students with a grade 2 or 3, even though this is not a requirement of the condition. And one in eight colleges (12 per cent) said they enter all 16 to 18-year old retake students for GCSE.

Functional skills

As a reason for this, 54 per cent said they felt GCSEs had greater currency than functional skills, while 39 per cent said functional skills were not an effective stepping stone to GCSE. Meanwhile, 40 per cent felt that progress measures impacted on their decision making.

The government last year introduced a range of measures to boost maths attainment - among them the advanced maths premium, which offers £600 per year in additional funding for each student studying specified level 3 maths qualifications for one or two years. However, 79 per cent of respondents told the AoC that the introduction of the premium had not encouraged them to expand level 3 maths provision.