{"id":22944,"date":"2025-04-02T21:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=22944"},"modified":"2025-04-02T21:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:36:08","slug":"why-is-the-recruitment-and-retainment-of-teachers-so-challenging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/why-is-the-recruitment-and-retainment-of-teachers-so-challenging\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the recruitment and retainment of teachers so challenging?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The demand for teachers in the United Kingdom (UK), particularly in England, has experienced significant changes in recent years. This is primarily due to a combination of high teacher attrition rates, recruitment challenges, and policy changes affecting teacher education and supply. Teacher recruitment and retention in the UK face significant challenges, exacerbated by various systemic and policy-related issues. These challenges are critical as they impact the quality of education and the ability to meet educational demands. Teacher recruitment and retention particularly in England, face significant regional disparities, influenced by various factors including policy changes, financial incentives, and diversity issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Covid-19 pandemic initially led to a surge in teacher applications in 2020, with UCAS reporting a 32% increase in applications for <\/span>teacher training programs<\/span><\/a>. However, this was followed by significant burnout and increased workloads as teachers managed remote learning, hybrid teaching, and Covid-19 safety measures. By late 2021, surveys showed that approximately <\/span>44% of teachers were considering leaving<\/span><\/a> the profession within five years due to pandemic-related stress. The UK government faced teachers recruitment challenges and consistently missed teacher recruitment targets in key subjects like mathematics, physics, and computing between 2020-2024. The <\/span>Department for Education (DfE) data<\/span><\/a> showed in the academic year 2022\/23 recruitment for secondary school teacher training met only 59% of its target for postgraduate secondary trainees, down from 79% in 2021\/22.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problems became more pronounced by regional disparities, with schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and rural regions facing the most severe recruitment difficulties. The shift of teacher education provision to urban centres leaves <\/span>rural areas struggling to attract and retain teachers<\/span><\/a>, further deepening regional\u00a0disparities. Moreover, certain regions in England, termed “cold spots,” lack established teacher training providers due to policy changes like the ITT Market Review. This centralizes teacher education in urban centres, exacerbating recruitment and retention issues in already isolated\u00a0areas. In the past year or so industrial action has been taken by teacher unions regarding teachers\u2019 pay and conditions affecting recruitment and retention. Moreover, the cost-of-living crisis exacerbated concerns about teacher salaries relative to other graduate professions. Several schools reported <\/span>increased reliance on supply teachers<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>non-specialist teachers<\/span><\/a> to cover staffing gaps caused by teacher\u00a0recruitment challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using data from <\/span>Adzuna\u2019s Intelligence Portal<\/span><\/a> we examine recent changes in teaching job vacancies across the UK. We collected data from the last six months, that is <\/span>July to December,<\/b> of <\/span>2023<\/b> and we compared it to the last six months of<\/span> 2024<\/b>. We examined the data and calculated the differences between the first period and the second at a local authority district level to gain insights about regional disparities from one period to the next. We find that while increases and decreases in teaching job vacancies can be found across the UK, several of the locations with highest number of increases are to be found in the South West and the South East (see map below). Teachers may well consider the affordability of decent housing in their location of choice, local city\/town amenities, and their overall local consumption power afforded by a teacher\u2019s salary at location, along with a myriad of other lifestyle choices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n