READING is one of the parts of the country most affected by a teacher shortage according to new research.
It is estimated there are just 24-and-a-half teachers to fill the 62 vacancies currently available, making it the fourth hardest hit in the country.
Watford was found to have the biggest teacher shortages, with only 16.6 potential teachers per vacancy, while Milton Keynes followed in second (23.4 teachers per vacancy) and Luton placed third (23.6 teachers per vacancy).
Out of the top 10 areas with the biggest teacher shortages, eight were located in the South of England.
Education software specialist The Access Group, which compiled the figures, said this suggests that this is the region where the teacher vacancies crisis is felt the most.
The firm analysed 2022 Census data on the number of teachers and compared this with the number of current teaching vacancies to create its figures, and suggests that such roles in England alone have nearly doubled since before Covid.
Richard Newsome is digital content manager at Access Education and a former teacher.
He said: “The rising number of teacher vacancies is continuing to cause concern in the education sector, with Headteachers warning that the UK is now facing a ‘dangerous’ teacher shortage as the recruitment crisis deepens.
“We’re seeing this ring true in schools up and down the UK – even in areas which have the least shortages in comparison to others. In turn, school leaders have been increasingly forced to use non-specialist teachers, which threatens to drive down pupil attainment and impacts on the quality of students’ learning.
“Various solutions have been proposed, ranging from incentives like Labour’s proposal to give teachers £2,400 in the early stages of their career, to a greater management of staff, facilitated by technologies like school HR software. The way forward must be a multi-faceted approach, which tackles the problem from every angle.”
A Reading Borough Council spokesperson acknowledged the issue and highlighted ways in which it was trying to help.
“A national shortage of teachers is affecting all local authority areas, including Reading,” they said.
“Certain teaching professions are affected more than others, for example Early Years Teachers, are particularly difficult to recruit at this time.
“Recruitment is managed locally at a school level and the Council, for its part, provides schools with recruitment advice alongside transactional advertising service which many Reading schools buy into and access.
“A couple of Reading schools had been struggling with recruitment last term for both teaching and support staff roles, so we have been providing tailored recruitment advice and good practices to encourage more applications.
“The Council of course recognises high local house and rental prices also play a key role in recruitment which is why we are investing in key working housing for public sector workers, including teachers, at the former Arthur Hill site which is now nearing completion.
“This forms part of a Council investment of over £110m to provide 400 affordable new council homes in Reading between 2021 and 2025.”
The report can be read at: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/blog/edu-which-areas-in-england-have-the-biggest-teacher-shortages/
