20/05/11
Figures reveal growing job scarcity for new teachers
This is matched by a rising proportion who are having to rely on freelance ‘supply’ teaching to earn a living in the months and years after qualification.
The figures are contained in the latest digest of statistics drawn from Wales’ teaching register, which gives the details of all nearly 39,000 individuals registered with the GTCW as eligible to teach in state schools.
According to the 2011 statistics, only 40% of newly-qualified teachers, who have just joined the register, had secured substantive jobs in primary or secondary schools. This represents a drop of 6% over the previous year and the continuation of a falling trend over the past decade.
By contrast, in 2003, nearly seven out of ten (66%) newly qualified teachers who had joined the register had secured jobs after graduating from initial teacher education and training institutions.
The proportion having to depend on supply teaching has shown an equivalent rise over the same period. In 2002 only 10% of those registering as teachers for the first time stated that they were in supply roles rather than permanent jobs.
Hayden Llewellyn, Deputy Chief Executive of the GTCW said: “While there has been a little fluctuation over the years, there is now a very clear trend towards newly-qualified teachers failing to get substantive jobs and having to register with agencies in order to get temporary and intermittent work as supply teachers at various different schools.”
He pointed out that a separate set of figures shows the number of new teachers achieving the ‘induction standard’ was also falling. Teachers need to complete three school terms in a substantive teaching job before being eligible to be assessed for the induction standard. Under the regulations they must attain this standard of classroom competency within five years of completing their initial training.
Mr Llewellyn added: “The falling number achieving the induction standard suggests that many of those who complete initial teaching training remain without jobs for quite some time afterwards.”
GTCW Chair, Angela Jardine commented: “Obviously it’s a matter of considerable concern that people are spending years training for teaching but significantly less than half of them are actually getting jobs. We’ll be passing these figures on to policy-makers in the Welsh Assembly Government for consideration”
The annual digest of statistics from the GTCW register has been published each year since 2002 and covers a range of indicators including the age, gender, ethnicity, qualifications and disability status of teachers and head-teachers.
This year, for the first time, it gives a statistical analysis of deputy and assistant head teachers in Wales’ schools.
The full digest is published on the GTCW website www.gtcw.org.uk
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