The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) published the third and final report in its series on the cost-of-living crisis, and its impact on schools.
The reports show the findings of surveys of over 2700 teachers and senior leaders in April and May 2023 in mainstream and special schools. The third report looks at the impact cost-of-living increases have had on school staff.
Schools North East has long been raising the developing challenges in recruitment and retention with policy makers, and is a key pillar of our strategy. In November 2021, we wrote to the Secretary of State for Education about the urgent need to depressurise the education system, to help address the recruitment and retention crisis.
In December 2021, we held a roundtable with senior school leaders, including CEOs, SBMs, COOs, and Head Teachers in the region, to discuss recruitment of staff, and challenges in accessing adequate supply. This roundtable identified the key issues, such as pay, workload, flexible working, career progression, and the lack of trust in the education profession. While some of the immediate operational challenges caused by the pandemic have reduced, teacher recruitment targets are not being reached.
TAs feel obligated to take up second jobs
Building upon this work, the NFER’s report highlights the particular challenges for teaching assistants (TAs). 82% of senior leaders in special schools, 75% in primaries, and 72% in secondaries are reporting some of their TAs taking up additional employment.
Among the schools recruiting for TAs over the last 12 months, only 7% of special schools, 23% of secondaries, and 45% of primaries report filling all TA vacancies within two months. 45% of secondary and special schools and 34% of primary schools reported that the salaries they were able to offer were the single biggest barrier to recruiting TAs.
The NFER recommends that the Government should prioritise the refresh of the teacher recruitment and retention strategy. This would include widening the scope of the strategy, with a longer-term focus that includes teaching assistants, school support staff, and tutors as well as teachers and leaders.
In a national survey in Summer 2022 of school leaders and TAs, conducted by Schools North East, 53% said they were considering resigning in the next year. The impact of this on North East schools would be considerable.
53% of these cited salary as the main reason, and 26% cited working conditions. Of the TAs surveyed 30% have an additional job to support income and this was highest in special schools, followed by primary and secondary.
72% of school leaders were expecting TAs to leave in the next year. To address this leaders felt that offering more training opportunities and career progression would help along with the capacity to employ more staff. Some commented that in their setting there was not the opportunity to progress. In feedback to Schools North East, school leaders have made it clear that they would like to pay TAs more, but budgets have not allowed for it.
Recruitment is a struggle
In our most recent State of the Region survey, sent out in June 2023, two thirds of school leaders said they were struggling with recruiting permanent staff, broadly similar to the results from our Autumn and Spring term surveys in 22/23.
82% said they were struggling to recruit teaching assistants, and 46% said they were struggling with recruiting teachers. Nearly half (47%) of schools said that vacancies were above what they would usually expect for the Summer term.
The challenges around TAs are particularly critical for special schools, where staffing ratios are higher. We have received feedback on this both regionally and nationally, through the National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals (NNoSS).
In a recent survey of NNoSS members, over two thirds of special schools said that classroom support staff are the hardest positions to fill. Most responses highlighted the need for better salaries that reflected the work staff in the sector do. Additionally, greater recognition is needed of the challenges of working in special and AP schools, to ensure schools can get quality staff and better meet needs and expectations.
In response to the growing concerns, the House of Commons Education Committee has begun an inquiry into teacher recruitment, training, and retention. Schools North East has submitted written evidence to the inquiry, which can be read here.
It has now been clear for several years that a long-term and strategic plan is needed to address the recruitment and retention crisis in schools. Any government wanting to take ‘levelling-up’ seriously must ensure that North East schools are able to attract the right staff for their settings.
