We’re 12 days into the new 2021/2022 academic year. Traditionally, September is a month that sees generally low staff absence in schools, and a high availability of educators in Wales who are available for supply work to cover staff absences, unfilled vacancies, and newly created opportunities within schools. This year feels different, and worryingly there does not appear to be any significant solutions available.
In a ‘normal’ September, we’re accustomed to supply educators chasing us to get started, keen for a days’ supply here and there whilst we wait for the inevitable increase in demand as we move to October and beyond. Regarding those educators seeking work within schools in Wales, this is not the case this year. Instead, we are seeing a stark role-reversal, with supply educators in immediate high demand due to schools having to manage and cover a seemingly unprecedented high volume of staff absence this early in the year.
Only this morning, I took a call from a headteacher desperately looking for help, seemingly at breaking point due to being unable to satisfactorily cover lessons despite deploying almost the whole leadership team and begging and borrowing from other staff members protected time. Numerous education recruitment agencies were contacted, with the same answer from all – “sorry, we’ve got nobody left available”.
The short-term effect of this situation, which I have on good authority is reflected across Wales, is extreme high levels of stress placed on school leaders and their staff. The long-term effects, as the situation likely worsens, will present themselves quite clearly for all. But we can safely assume that it will result in increasing pupil-teacher ratios, higher levels of staff absence, a decline in the quality of educational experience for our pupils, a negative impact on attainment, and a very real threat to the emotional and mental wellbeing of staff and pupils alike.
This situation is not a new phenomenon, or a surprise to those that work in the sector. There have been numerous studies and reports pointing to this challenge, such as The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) first annual report on the teacher labour market in Wales, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which showed that, up to 2018/19, the Welsh school system was facing a substantial and growing challenge of ensuring there were sufficient numbers of teachers.
In response, the Welsh government have tried to address the problem with a target of 900 extra teaching staff to be recruited this year in a plan to “Recruit, recover and raise standards” in Welsh schools.
There are also claims that Wales’ teacher recruitment is improving due to the Covid pandemic focus, and when the figures for new trainee teachers are published next May, we all hope they provide substance to the claim. Whether this will be enough to provide a longer-term solution to the fact that targets in Wales for new trainee teachers has been missed for six years running is highly questionable. To put this into context, latest figures showed just 465 students enrolled on to secondary school teaching courses in 2019-20, less than half the allocated 1,006 spaces. The situation was better for primary school courses, with 615 students enrolled – but still missing the target of 696.
We also look forward to the implementation by Welsh government of a report it commissioned on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities, Contributions and Cynefin in the new school curriculum to continue our much-needed development as an equitable and diverse nation.
Welsh government has the ability to immediately go further in regard to promoting greater diversity within our education system, by better systems to attract high quality educators from around the world. For example, at present Wales is the only home nation that does not recognise the teaching qualifications and experience of educators from countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or South Africa. In contrast, our cousins in England, Scotland, and Ireland have long benefitted from this readily available educator workforce, that consistently arrive on UK shores (despite the pandemic), and add great diversity to our classrooms due to their uniquely diverse backgrounds. This is an area, if dealt with swiftly by Welsh government, can potentially have an almost immediate positive impact on the strain currently being experienced by our education system in Wales.
You may notice throughout this article, I use the term educator purposefully. Yet most of the research, studies, and headlines focus predominantly on teaching staff. It’s important to highlight that the staffing crisis in schools here in Wales is not specific only to teachers. Suitably qualified and/or experienced school support staff are also in dire shortage with growing concerns across all types of school and provision about the struggle to find the right people for roles including one-to-one support, group interventions, specialist activities, and wider-school roles and duties, including technical support.
This article is by no way intending to ‘point blame’, or to reinvigorate previous deficiencies. It is simply intended to provide an important insight into the status quo of Wales education staffing situation, and to highlight the dangers and hurdles that our schools and educators face to provide the best possible educational experiences to our pupils. School leaders especially, are working hard to innovate and find creative solutions to ensure continuity, but with limited resources available to them so early in the new academic year, concern is deep and growing. Again, the situation is only likely to worsen, certainly in the short-term, under current circumstances.
By working together as One Team, the government, schools, staff, agencies, businesses, etc. can overcome and truly create a world-class education system here in Wales that is sustainable for many generations ahead. That is our duty, and I hope that we can all truly work together in this mission.
