2. The NAHT recently undertook their third survey on school
recruitment recording the experiences of school leader’s
recruiting teachers and senior leaders in 2016.
Unfortunately it doesn’t present a positive outlook for school
recruitment,the survey results show for the third year running
there has been no improvement in teacher supply for schools
across the country.
This clearly demonstrates action needs to be taken to fix the
teacher recruitment crisis in the UK, we need to make the
profession more attractive to join and stay in.
In this report we are going to look at the regional trends in
teacher recruitment.
Introduction
3. • For the third year in a row school leaders report a continuing problem with
recruitment across all roles, from teachers to senior leaders.
• Overall, a very high proportion (79%) of posts were difficult to recruit for; of this
62% of posts were a struggle to fill and the remaining 17% were unable to be
recruited for at all.
• Across all roles, for those that failed to recruit, recruitment agencies were the
most common solution pursued in 70% of cases of unfilled roles.
• The growing struggle to recruit means that nearly half of schools reported using
recruitment agencies to recruit their permanent roles (44%); with 69% of those
saying they had done so as they had failed to recruit previously.
For the third year respondents reported in increasing numbers that recruitment
difficulties were due to the number of teachers leaving the profession in their
area. This figure, which more than doubled between 2014 and 2015, increased by
a further nine percentage points this year, with 42% of respondents citing it. This
continues to be the third highest reason cited for their recruitment problems.
This reflects other report findings, which suggest similar trends, including the
DfE’s own data.
• Nationally, there has also been a large increase in the number of school leaders
citing high housing and living costs as an explanation, with a seven percentage
point increase seen between 2015 and 2016. This is another large increase, on
top of that seen between 2014 and 2015, when this reason increased from 17%
to 24% and rose from the 7th most common reason to the 4th.
Key Findings
A deeply worrying aspect was that the number of respondents
highlighted that budget pressures were to blame for their failure
to recruit, rising from 9% in 2015 to 22% in 2016.
This corresponds with the findings that NAHT reported in our September 2015
‘breaking point’ survey. Respondents are saying that the school funding crisis is
preventing them from paying the salaries that will attract or retain teachers.
4. Below is a regional overview of teacher recruitment in 2016.The bar charts represent
all teaching positions from NQTs through to Head Teachers on the following pages
we go into more detail on each specific region and teaching positions within that
region.
Regional
Overview
London
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Eastern England
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
South East
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
East and West
Midlands
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
South West and South
Central
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
North East, North West
& Yorkshire
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
57%
10%
17%
68%
62%
16%
26%
57%
63%
18%
62%
19%
5. North East,
North West &
Yorkshire
Teacher
Recruitment
Trends
Research shows that schools in the North East, North West
and Yorkshire struggled with recruitment in 2016. Close to
half of those asked found it difficult to recruit for all roles,
with a staggering 76% of institutions finding it hard to recruit
for Head Teacher and Principal roles. Furthermore, almost a
quarter found recruiting for SENCo positions impossible as
23% failed to recruit at all; this 23% is considerably higher
than all other regions apart from the South East. Overall,
the majority of all schools struggled to recruit in most areas
including Deputy Head and Vice Principal roles.
Newly Qualified
Teacher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Deputy Head /
Vice Principal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SENCo
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Head Teachers /
Principals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teachers on
main pay scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teaching Role
with TLR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teacher on
Upper Pay Scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
School Business
Mangers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
58%
11%
58%
0%
54%
63%
21%
9%
58%
46%
23%
5%
46%
76%
0%8%
6. East and West
Midlands
Teacher
Recruitment
Trends
In the East and West Midlands all schools managed to recruit
School Business Managers, something that only happened in
this region and South West and Central. As with the majority of
other regions, recruitment was strongest when looking at Head
Teachers and Principals. This region found struggles similar
to the rest of the country. The largest failures to recruit can
be seen in relation to SENCo, teaching roles within TLR and
teachers on Upper Pay Scale.
Newly Qualified
Teacher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Deputy Head /
Vice Principal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SENCo
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Head Teachers /
Principals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teachers on
main pay scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teaching Role
with TLR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teacher on
Upper Pay Scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
School Business
Mangers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
66%
23%
67%
8%
58%
61%
23%
7%
66%
55%
27%22%
50%
72%
17%
0%
7. 10%
15%
Eastern
England
Teacher
Recruitment
Trends
In Eastern England the highest recruitment success can be
seen when focusing on Head Teacher and Principal positions,
which can be seen across most of the regions. The amount
of schools that reported difficulty recruiting is high, with
over half of schools reporting struggles for all position types
such as 70% for teaching roles with TLR and 68% for SENCo.
There are no recruitment areas in this region that reported no
failures to recruit, with the lowest being 6% for Head Teachers
and Principals.
Newly Qualified
Teacher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Deputy Head /
Vice Principal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SENCo
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Head Teachers /
Principals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teachers on
main pay scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teaching Role
with TLR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teacher on
Upper Pay Scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
School Business
Mangers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
67%
24%
67%
70%
59%
23%
59%
68%
16%
28%
62%
88%
6%
10%
8. South West &
South Central
Teacher
Recruitment
Trends
No schools in South West and South Central England reported
failings when recruiting School Business Managers, and only
13% reported failure when hiring Deputy Head Teachers and
Vice Principals. Throughout the entire report the only time
the percentage of schools who failed to recruit is higher than
the percentage who had difficulty can be seen within the data
taken from South West and South Central areas; 50% failed
to recruit teachers on an upper pay scale, whereas only 45%
recruited with difficulty.
Newly Qualified
Teacher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Deputy Head /
Vice Principal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SENCo
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Head Teachers /
Principals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teachers on
main pay scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teaching Role
with TLR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teacher on
Upper Pay Scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
School Business
Mangers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
55%
70%
26%
0%
45%
50%
74%
16%
56% 57%
26%
13%
75%
66%
9%14%
9. 25%
19%
South East
Teacher
Recruitment
Trends
The percentage of schools that failed to recruit at all in
the South East is on average lower than other regions, with
percentages of 0, 13 and 19 being found. The largest difficulty
can be seen when looking at the data from School Business
Managers, and this differs from all other regions where
teachers on the main pay scale and Head Teacher and Principal
roles proved more challenging. Additionally, no schools failed
to recruit for SENCo positions and this is something that is not
reported in any other region.
Newly Qualified
Teacher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Deputy Head /
Vice Principal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SENCo
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Head Teachers /
Principals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teachers on
main pay scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teaching Role
with TLR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teacher on
Upper Pay Scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
School Business
Mangers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
73%
21%
64%
59%
33%
26%
69% 67%
0%
23%
75%
63%
13%13%
10. London
Teacher
Recruitment
Trends
When looking at recruiting School Business Managers a third
of schools reported difficulty and a third failed altogether,
therefore only 33% of schools successfully recruited School
Business Managers in London in 2016. The largest difficulty
can be seen when looking at teachers on the main pay scale
at 68% and the largest failure to recruit can be seen when
looking at teachers on the upper pay scale, at 44%. Overall,
in London only 8% of those asked recruited a teacher on the
upper pay scale without any difficulty.
Newly Qualified
Teacher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Deputy Head /
Vice Principal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SENCo
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Head Teachers /
Principals
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teachers on
main pay scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teaching Role
with TLR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Teacher on
Upper Pay Scale
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
School Business
Mangers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Recruited with difficulty % Failed to recruit %
33% 33%
53%
22%
48% 44%
67%
22%
58%
27%
63%
13%
68%
26%
67%
14%
