
There is increasing evidence of a crisis in teacher recruitment just as the number of pupils and need for new teachers begins to increase sharply.
1 Excessive workload is driving away teachers, while the Government's attacks on pay are deterring new recruits.

In January 2014 the head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw, said that it was a "national scandal" that around two-fifths of teachers had left the profession within five years and that serious questions needed to be asked about the current teacher training system.
2
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In July 2014, the DfE reported that the number of children enrolled in state schools would increase by almost a million over the next decade with the rise in the number of pupils between 2014 and 2023 equivalent to the addition of more than 1,900 schools. 3
 The NUT has concerns about the Government’s School Direct programme.
Evidence has shown that the programme has substantially under recruited.
4 The
NUT fears that an increasing focus on School Direct has built a considerable instability into the teacher training system.

In April 2013 Professor Sir Tim Brighouse said that the provision of teacher education had been undergoing an unpublicised crisis. The need to train teachers at all was being brought into question and the Government had not prioritised the need for teacher training, and seemed to have given up the need to plan teacher training nationally.
5
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Research by Prof John Howson and Chris Waterman in August 2013 showed that more than 100,000 secondary school students might be taught maths and science by teachers who had not been trained in those subjects due to a chronic shortage of teacher recruits. 6 The shortage of teachers could become even more apparent from
September 2014, leading to more pupils being taught by non-subject specialists.

A national survey of more than 2,300 governors carried out by TES and the National
Governors’ Association in summer of 2014 revealed that one in three respondents
1
Prof. John Howson & Chris Waterman (2013), Teacher Training Places in England: September 2013 and DfE Initial Teacher
Training Performance Profiles 2013 for the Academic Year 2011-12 England (November 2013). Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254262/Initial_Teacher_Training_PP_2013_Man agement_information.pdf
2
The Guardian (2014), Ofsted Chief: twofifths of teachers quitting within five years is a ‘scandal’ . Available at
3 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/15/ofsted-chief-teachers-quitting-scandal
DfE, Statistical First Release National Pupil Projections
– Future Trends in Pupil Numbers: July 2014
. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330261/SFR23_2014_Main_Text.pdf
4 NUT submission to STRB, Fair Pay for Teachers (December 2013)
5
Sir Tim Brighouse, New Visions for Education Group, Government induced crisis in Initial Teacher Education ( April 2013 ).
Available at http://www.newvisionsforeducation.org.uk/2013/04/15/government-induced-crisis-in-initial-teacher-education/
6 See Prof. John Howson & Chris Waterman (2013), Teacher Training Places in England: September 2013 above
Produced by the National Union of Teachers

said their schools had been finding it tough to attract head teachers and 32 per cent said they had been struggling to recruit classroom teachers. 7
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The results of a YouGov survey (January 2014) showed that 52 per cent of teachers said they were less likely to stay in teaching as a result of changes to their pay and pensions, 57 per cent were less likely to stay following changes to their conditions and three-quarters said their morale had declined since the last General Election.
8
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Securing teacher supply for the future requires action to reduce workload to manageable levels, as well as professional levels of pay which enable teaching to compete with other graduate employers.
7
TES (15 August 2014), Schools have the jobs, so where are the staff?
8 NUT commissioned YouGov poll of 826 teachers carried out in December 2013. NUT (January 2014). Teachers’ New Year
Message [online] . Available at: http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/20172
Produced by the National Union of Teachers