Urgent need for 18,565 specialist teachers

As reported by NEU, calculations highlight a pressing shortage of subject specialist teachers, particularly in English Baccalaureate subjects, with over 4,000 maths teachers and almost 4,000 languages teachers required, emphasising the challenges in addressing shortfalls in education staffing

The figures show how many extra subject specialist teachers would be needed to fill all the hours currently taught by teachers without a relevant post A-level qualification in their subject. This does not take into account increasing class sizes, the increase in secondary pupil numbers, the collapse of graduates entering teacher training or any other contributing factors, which means the actual shortfall may be higher.

Of course, in many cases a teacher may choose to widen or change their subject area, and in many cases may be able to perform as well or better than teachers who qualified into the subject. In other cases, a teacher may be forced to teach outside their original specialism due to shortages and the school recruitment and retention crisis. Even in this scenario, many are able to adapt and perform just as well as their peers. However, in other cases members have reported to us a range of impacts which include:

• Higher workload and stress for the teacher concerned, due to the extra time needed for planning and preparation in a less familiar subject,
• Impact on pupils where a member feels “out of their depth” or not able to teach to the level they would like when outside their specialism,
• Impact on colleagues and managers where a teacher needs some support in getting up to speed on the course/subject content, or are only able to teach lessons up to a certain level or age group.

Examples of relevant post A-level qualifications could include an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in the subject concerned, or a PGCE or similar teacher training qualification with a specialism in the relevant subject.