The hook-a-teacher challenge

After a decade of nationwide teacher shortages, schools remain challenged by both recruitment and retention issues. Yet recent figures indicate that job adverts are declining.

Timo Hannay, founder of SchoolDash, points out that low numbers of adverts does not mean that schools aren’t having trouble hiring. ‘It just means that the annual game of musical chairs – in which staff move between schools – appears to be smaller-scale this year than in recent years. In other words, even if there are fewer vacancies, there might also be fewer teachers looking for roles, which still leaves some schools in the lurch.’

While this small decrease in vacancies could be an indication that the recruitment crisis is abating, ASE believes that the picture is more complex

The survey finds that fewer teachers are changing jobs following a period of high post-pandemic turnover – 2023/24 was an unusually active year – while at the same time, schools are anticipating future declines in pupil numbers and facing serious budgetary pressures. As a result, 45% of secondary headteachers expected to reduce their teacher headcount in September 2025.

Another concerning finding is the proportion of teachers who expect to be teaching in three years’ time has fallen from around 75% pre-pandemic to approximately 60% today. Although this figure appears to have stabilised, the report says it reflects a sustained shift likely to challenge schools.

Is the pool of science teachers shrinking?

While this small decrease in vacancies could be an indication that the recruitment crisis is abating, ASE believes that the picture is more complex. There remains a significant shortage of specialist science teachers in schools and funding pressures, recruitment freezes and schools redeploying non-specialist teaching staff to fill vacancies are likely masking the true number of vacancies for these roles.

‘These figures only tell part of the story, and we need further data to help us fully understand the situation,’ ASE’s CEO Lynn Ladbrook says. ‘We know that many schools still lack specialist science teachers and we know that science teachers continue to leave the workforce. We also know that funding pressures brought on by rising costs, supporting pay rises, buildings repair, supply staff costs etc mean many schools simply cannot afford to recruit.’

The ASE is concerned that schools are deploying non-specialist staff to fill vacancies, which, evidence suggests, has detrimental impacts on pupil learning and is also likely to result in more overworked and stressed teachers and higher attrition rates. It warns that without more support for schools this situation will only get worse.

 ‘Schools are frequently timetabling to maximise contact time. They have the potential to recruit another science teacher, but instead compact classes’

Matt Wilson, a chemistry and physics teacher at St Thomas of Aquin’s RC High School in Edinburgh, says while there are jobs (at least for science teachers) in Scotland, they tend to be in less desirable locations or less desirable schools. Some schools in struggling and outlying areas have stopped advertising altogether.

Matt also blames tightened school budgets for fewer teachers. ‘Schools are frequently timetabling to maximise contact time. They have the potential to recruit another science teacher, but instead compact classes. For example, I know of a teacher teaching an Advanced higher chemistry/National 4 chemistry class this year. The English equivalent is like teaching A-level chemistry and a bottom set GCSE class at the same time. In years gone by when more money was available, this would have been two separate classes taught by different teachers.’

Another consideration for future recruitment is a recent drive by Scottish authorities to offer students access to more courses by attending online lessons, which require fewer teachers. ‘Theoretically there would be no upper limit to an online class size, so students wishing to study Advanced higher chemistry could log onto a Scotland-wide lesson during a particular period in the school day,’ he says. ‘In Scotland, council areas are already considering this option to save money.’

Does it all come down to money?

‘Schools and trusts are under enormous budgetary pressures, and many will be taking a cautious approach to recruiting new staff and indeed may be actively in the process of reducing staffing numbers,’ general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Pepe Di’Iasio says. ‘This is likely to be the reason for lower secondary school recruitment activity.’

Teaching salaries are not sufficiently competitive with other professions

Pepe notes that when schools do try to hire new teachers they often struggle. ‘The postgraduate secondary teacher training target has been missed for all but one of the past 12 years. And there were shortfalls in most secondary subjects for the current 2024/25 training year, including chemistry where only 62% of the target was met.’

Pepe puts this down to national pay awards failing to keep pace with inflation over a number of years meaning teaching salaries are not sufficiently competitive with other professions. High workloads, pressures resulting from performance tables and inspections compound this.

‘Although advertising for new teachers is down this year, teacher satisfaction remains low,’ says Jenni French of the Gatsby Foundation which funded the SchoolDash and Teacher Tapp survey. ‘Factors like low flexibility, alternative careers, workload and student behaviour continue to drive attrition, a factor which is more acutely felt in schools serving disadvantaged communities. Therefore, a government strategy to retain, recruit and retrain teachers, particularly in hard-to-recruit subjects such as physics, maths and chemistry remains vital if we are to ensure that all pupils are taught by well-qualified, specialist teachers.’

‘Improved pay awards this year and next year will help,’ Pepe says. ‘But even then, the government has failed to fully fund the pay award for 2025/26 and this is effectively a further cut to school budgets. We would encourage the government to continue to improve pay levels to aid both recruitment and retention, to ensure that these are fully funded, and to work with the profession to reduce workload pressures.’

After last year’s boom, maybe today’s labour market was always going to look subdued. Perhaps more teachers are choosing to stay put, or schools are reducing staffing levels. Whatever the reasons, concerns remain over the recruitment and retention of teachers – particularly in science.