Teacher recruitment activity in secondary schools has been significantly lower this year, with job adverts down by almost a third, according to a new report.
The number of adverts for secondary school teachers in 2024-25 has decreased by 31 per cent compared with 2023-24, and is 22 per cent lower than in 2018-19, when Easter last fell this late in the year, Teacher Tapp and SchoolDash’s research shows.
The two organisations’ Teacher Recruitment and Retention Report in 2025, funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, is based on monitoring job adverts and surveys with more than 10,000 teachers.
While recruitment levels for schools were typical in autumn, the research reveals that activity has slowed “markedly” since January, which it says could suggest a “quieter spring term for hiring”.
However, the report adds that due to the late timing of Easter this year, ”it is possible that some of the job advertisement activity typically seen in March has shifted into April”.
Teacher recruitment hit by funding pressures
The report says fewer teachers are now changing jobs following a period of high turnover in the wake of the pandemic.
It adds that, at the same time, schools, particularly in areas such as London, are anticipating future declines in pupil numbers and are responding with more cautious staffing plans. The report warns that schools also face serious budgetary pressures.
“When combined with tightening budgets, the expectation of future enrolment declines may be prompting some schools to take a more cautious approach to recruitment,” the report says.
The findings come after unions warned that most school budgets will fall short in the 2025-26 academic year.
Legal experts have also warned Tes that schools are already preparing to make further redundancies and restructurings as a result of financial pressures.
Analysis by SchoolDash shows that affluent urban areas have seen the greatest fall in teacher job adverts, dropping from 124 adverts per 1,000 teachers to 105 adverts.
Schools in poorer urban areas have seen a small increase in adverts since 2018-19, up from 97 to 105 adverts per 1,000 teachers.
Cuts in teacher numbers expected
Almost half of secondary headteachers surveyed said they expected to reduce teacher numbers next year. Just 21 per cent anticipated an increase.
More than a third of primary headteachers expected to cut teacher numbers, with just 5 per cent anticipating an increase.
The report suggests that the low recruitment numbers for primary schools could be down to falling pupil rolls, with unfilled spaces now at the highest level since records began.
The proportion of primary and secondary school teachers reporting staffing challenges varied.
The percentage of primary teachers who say their school is inadequately staffed with qualified teachers is continuing to increase, up to 17 per cent from 16 per cent in 2024.
The percentage of secondary teachers who say their department lacks an adequate number of suitably qualified teachers fell slightly - 21 per cent in 2025 compared with 23 per cent in 2024 and 22 per cent in 2023.
There has been an increase in the proportion of primary teachers reporting that non-teachers cover their planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time, rising from 51 per cent to 55 per cent in the past year.
And 53 per cent of primary teachers reported that a class in their school was led by a short-term temporary, agency or unqualified teacher, compared with 51 per cent in 2024.
More staff thinking of leaving the profession
Only 60 per cent of teachers now expect to remain in the profession for the next three years, down from 75 per cent before the pandemic, the research shows.
The report says there has been a “notable decline” in this figure since the pandemic. The figure “appears to have stabilised” but the research warns that “it reflects a sustained shift that will continue to challenge schools through higher turnover and greater staffing instability”.
Last year the Department for Education found that a third of school teachers and leaders were considering leaving teaching within the next 12 months for reasons other than retirement.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Work has already begun, as part of our Plan for Change, to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers, including making £233 million 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 per cent 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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