Schools are less happy with the calibre of candidates for teaching jobs, despite the rising appointment rate, according to the latest TES Teacher Recruitment Index. Schools filled a higher proportion of vacant posts during the Easter 2016 period than in any Easter period since 2012. However, there are growing worries that this is at the expense of teacher quality: 71% of schools were happy with the quality of candidates in 2016, versus 79% in 2015.
Other key findings:
- Recruitment has been getting significantly harder since 2012, but has picked up in this year’s main recruitment round.
- Schools are becoming more flexible in filling roles by hiring more NQTs, restructuring roles, resorting to redundancies and removing roles and introducing more part-time roles.
The Index is the most comprehensive and frequent survey of teacher recruitment activity in schools in England. It tracks secondary schools’ ability to successfully recruit teachers over time by region and subject. Based on interviews with more than 5,000 schools that have taken place since the Index began in 2011-12. You can download the report here.