Teacher job vacancies hit record levels
21 April 2025
A report from the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) reveals that more than six teaching positions in every thousand were left unfilled in 2024. An ever-growing record vacancy rate which is more than double that of 2020.
The latest government spending review suggests that time is running out for the Department for Education to meet its manifesto pledge of hiring 6,500 additional teachers in state schools.
This comes as experts suggests fewer graduates are signing up as trainee teachers, and younger professionals are making career changes due to a variety of factors, including pupil behaviour, pay and working practices.
NFER school workforce expert and a co-author of the report Jack Worth said, “Teacher recruitment and retention in England remain in a perilous state, posing a substantial risk to the quality of education.
“The time for half measures is over. Fully funded pay increases that make teacher pay more competitive are essential to keeping teachers in the classroom and attracting new recruits.”
According to the NFER, declining student behaviour is one of the fastest-growing contributors to teacher workload, likely linked to children’s mental health and challenges in providing support for special educational needs. It reported that shortages are being managed by increasing class sizes and more unqualified or non-specialist teachers in subjects such as physics.
General secretary of the NASUWT teaching union Patrick Roach said, “This report underlines our calls for a national workforce plan to deliver a strategic approach to delivering the improvements needed to pay, workload, pupil behaviour and other working conditions which are essential to tackling the factors currently deterring graduates from choosing a career in teaching and pushing existing teachers to leave the profession.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Education (DfE) said, “Recruiting and keeping great teachers in our classrooms is vital to improving life chances for all children. We are committed to resetting the relationship with the education workforce and working alongside them to re-establish teaching as an attractive, expert profession.
“Work has already begun, as part of our plan for change, to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers, including making £233m available next year to encourage more talented people into the classroom to teach subjects including maths, physics, chemistry and computing.
“On top of the 5.5% pay award announced last year, we are also taking steps to support teachers’ wellbeing and ease workload pressures including encouraging schools to allow their staff to work more flexibly so more teachers stay in the profession.”
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