The problem with reports like the one published by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) yesterday is that they don’t help policy makers very much. Headlines of a teacher shortage are nothing new and looking at the position in 2016 doesn’t tell anyone what is happening now and will happen in the 2019 labour market. As I said in yesterday’s blog post, knowing where the hot spots are is a useful piece of extra knowledge, but is that really what the leading think tank on education sees as the best use of its resources?
I promised in my blog about the UCAS data, also published yesterday, to look at trends in August offer numbers. The following table looks at key subjects for this August and the previous two years, as well as the change between 2016 and 2018.
Subject | 2016 offers | Number of Placed and conditional firm 2017 | Number of Placed and conditional firm 2018 | Difference 2018 on 2016 | |
ART & DESIGN | 635 | 505 | 460 | -175 | |
BIOLOGY | 1305 | 965 | 920 | -385 | |
BUSINESS STUDIES | 205 | 165 | 150 | -55 | |
CHEMISTRY | 965 | 855 | 830 | -135 | |
CLASSICS | 50 | 55 | 70 | 20 | |
COMPUTING | 520 | 520 | 590 | 70 | |
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | 465 | 315 | 460 | -5 | |
DRAMA | 375 | 350 | 300 | -75 | |
ENGLISH | 1825 | 1855 | 1890 | 65 | |
GEOGRAPHY | 875 | 1175 | 1150 | 275 | |
HISTORY | 920 | 1135 | 1070 | 150 | |
MATHEMATICS | 2395 | 2335 | 2380 | -15 | |
MFL | 4470 | 4530 | 3850 | -620 | |
MUSIC | 360 | 310 | 280 | -80 | |
PHYSICAL EDUCATION | 1225 | 1195 | 1120 | -105 | |
PHYSICS | 830 | 690 | 680 | -150 | |
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION | 470 | 430 | 380 | -90 | |
17890 | 17385 | 16580 | -1310 |
Source: UCAS monthly reports, August 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Despite the upward trend in pupil numbers, the trend in the number of offers has been downwards over the past two years. This suggests an even greater ‘crisis’ for schools in the 2019 labour market across some subjects, although the science numbers must be treated with degree of discretion until the census appears in November due to a change in the method of recording offers by UCAS this year for applications. I doubt that Teach First will be riding to the rescue this year, although we must wait until November to find out their recruitment figures.
We don’t need more geography and history teachers, or last not as many more as have been recruited over the past two years. These offers don’t relate to the Teacher Supply model estimates of numbers needed, but many subjects will again fall short of that number. We will analyses the shortfall when the census appears. For a look at recent years, it is worth consulting the School Teachers’ Review Body’s latest report issued in July or you could look back through the posts on this blog. However, it is also worth remembering that EPI only looked at new entrants and didn’t fully factor in what might be happening with returner numbers, something NfER have been considering in their studies.
Might it be time to revive the posts of regional recruitment managers, used by the Labour government nearly 20 years ago during a previous recruitment crisis? Alternatively, do we need to make the most of the resources available by moving away from a free market? If it is acceptable for academy trusts to move teachers between schools should it not be acceptable to do so on a more national scale?