Secondary heads in Wales are having serious difficulties recruiting maths, physics and Welsh teachers, a survey by the General Teaching Council for Wales has found. Up till now Wales has been spared the recruitment problems across the border.
On average, vacant teaching posts are attracting only 6.5 applicants but, in some cases, heads fail to attract a single suitable applicant.
The survey found physics posts were most difficult to fill with only 3.8 applicants on average per vacancy. Posts for teachers of Welsh as a second language attracted 4.5 applicants and maths posts attracted an average of 6.1.
Desperate heads have persuaded teachers to come out of retirement, made direct approaches to teacher training colleges and appointed non-specialists.
Gary Brace, chief executive of the GTC for Wales, said: “Heads are proving very resourceful, but clearly there is a real problem.”
He announced the results to the Secondary Heads Association (Wales) conference at Llandrindod Wells yesterday.
John Andrews, chairman of the council, said factors putting off applicants appeared to include unruly pupils, paperwork, lack of professional development and promotion prospects, and pay.
He said that, although pay is outside the Council and the Welsh Assembly’s remit, he hopes that the other issues can be dealt with.
The council wants to form an alliance with the Assembly, unions, training colleges, the Teacher Training Agency, education authorities, and the Welsh inspection body Estyn to tackle the problem.
England’s General Teaching Council has avoided carrying out similar work because of the number of such surveys in England. But it is advising ministers to carry out a national “exit” survey of teachers leaving the profession next year.
