ASCL said low pay and heavy workloads have made it ‘a less attractive profession’.
13 December 2022
Fundamental problems around recruiting and retaining teachers must be addressed if the Government has any ambitions to improve education, school leaders have said.
The annual report published by schools watchdog Ofsted was described as “deeply worrying” by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
Ofsted found that staff shortages are compounding problems in education in England as schools struggle to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
6/7🧵 Deputy Director @LeeOwston talks about what we’ve seen in teacher development in 2021/22. High-quality teacher training is vital for schools to recruit the workforce they need.
Read the #TeacherDevelopment section of the annual report here: https://t.co/kytuPUTTjd pic.twitter.com/bvO9IV1cXX
— Ofsted (@Ofstednews) December 13, 2022
The report stated that many of the problems identified in the sectors are “either created or exacerbated” by workforce issues, and urged staffing to be addressed in order to ensure education and social care can be “resilient in the face of future challenges”.
ASCL said low pay and heavy workloads have made it “a less attractive profession”.
Julie McCulloch, ASCL’s director of policy, said: “The chief inspector highlights the major challenges faced by the education sector, many of which have become more acute as a result of the Government’s inadequate response to the growing recruitment and retention crisis in our schools and colleges.
“As the report outlines, this is having an impact in all education settings, from early years through to further education.”
She added: “Staff shortages are a result of teaching becoming a less attractive profession. Teacher pay has fallen in real terms by a fifth since 2010, while continued underfunding has increased workload at the same time. These fundamental problems must be addressed if the Government has any ambitions to improve education.”
The Government reiterated the financial commitments it has made to the sector, with a Department for Education spokesperson saying: “We know the pandemic has impacted children’s learning and social care, and we are incredibly grateful for the resilience and hard work of teachers, head teachers, social workers and other staff.
“We have put in place a wide range of support, including investing £5 billion in education recovery, with over two million tutoring courses now started, and are boosting school budgets to their highest ever level in real terms by 24/25.”
