Big rise in teaching vacancies as Black Country schools struggle to fill openings

Data from teaching jobs site TeachVac shows primary and secondary schools in Wolverhampton posted 446 vacancies through its website over the course of last year – up by 85 per cent on 241 the year before.

Schools in Walsall posted 478 vacancies while those in Dudley posted 355 – with both areas up by 77 per cent on the previous year.

But the biggest rise was in Sandwell which posted 494 vacancies last year – more than double that of the 220 vacancies posted the year before.

Across England, teacher vacancies increased significantly in 2022 as the profession faced increasing recruitment and retention pressures following the coronavirus pandemic – job listings on TeachVac increased from 64,283 in 2021 to 107,104 last year.

Some jobs can be listed more than once if they are not initially filled, and not every teaching vacancy is posted to the TeachVac site.

The Association of School and College Leaders has said teacher shortages are at a "crisis point" and urged the Government to address falling recruitment and retention.

Staff at some schools in the Black Country said they had also struggled to fill vacancies.

A member of staff from a Wolverhampton primary school, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "We are seeing the struggle to fill vacancies we do have.

"We are not having a lot of people applying for the positions. It's hard to fill a role because they might not be suitable.

"Two years ago you would have 14 applying for a job. If you advertise it now you would be lucky to get four.

"People are more likely to apply for bigger schools with more pupils because of the salary difference.

"You are paid more in a bigger school because there's more responsibility."

Stuart Playford, headteacher of Priory Park Community School in Dudley, said it wasn't struggling because it had a very low turnover of staff, but was aware there could be problems at larger schools.

He added: "We are a very small school. Our staff team are 16. We don't see [the struggle] however I think that is due to the size.

"I think the larger schools are finding it very difficult."

Councillor Simon Hackett, Sandwell’s cabinet member for children and education, said the rise in teacher vacancies being advertised locally mirrored the national picture as the area was facing "wider workforce challenges" since the pandemic.

But he said the rise could also relate to increased class sizes.

“Retention of our talented personnel is also a challenge and we have joined forces with neighbouring councils in raising these issues with our colleagues in government," he added.

“It is also worth noting that some of the vacancies relate to increases in class sizes meaning schools are appointing more teachers to support the additional school places the council has developed over the years and therefore not just because of some of the challenges we are seeing across the country.”

The ASCL said teacher shortages are in crisis, with 95 per cent of schools reporting they have struggled to recruit new teachers in the past.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said the Government repeatedly misses trainee recruitment targets, and nearly a third of new teachers leave the profession within five years of qualifying.

Mr Barton said: "This is the result of a decade of real terms pay cuts which have eroded the value of salaries and workload pressures caused by Government underfunding of education, leaving staff doing more work with fewer resources.

"If schools cannot put teachers in front of classes, they cannot possibly maintain and improve educational standards.

"The Government must work with the profession on a strategy to improve teacher recruitment and retention and back this up with sufficient funding."

Across the country, the increase in teacher vacancies through TeachVac was largely driven by state schools, where job advertisements increased by 68 per cent in 2022, compared with 52 per cent for independent schools.

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of teaching trade union NASUWT, said: "The crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is the product of 12 years of failure by a Government that has lost the confidence of the teaching profession.

"It is little wonder that the Government’s failure to invest in the profession has resulted in many experienced teachers and headteachers quitting the profession prematurely as a consequence of real terms pay cuts and ever-rising workload pressures."

The Department for Education said there are 24,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools than in 2010.

A spokesperson said tax-free bursaries worth up to £27,000 and a new £3,000 premium encourage trainees to teach subjects including maths, physics, chemistry and computing.

They added: "We are making the highest pay awards in a generation – five per cent for experienced teachers and more for those early in their careers, including an up to 8.9 per cent increase to starting salary."