National teacher shortage a worry – union

The States employs more than 500 teachers across the Bailiwick and has hired 408 staff since 2013.

The fact fewer are starting to train is a worry for Andy Woolley, the union’s regional secretary.

‘Teacher training applicants in the UK are significantly down and it’s a real concern,’ said Mr Woolley.

‘I have recently spoken to a small group of maths students at Gloucester University and five of them said they were no longer going to continue their course.’

A report by the Education Policy Institute assessed the state of the teacher labour market in England.

The data showed teacher training applications were down by 5%, while training targets had been missed persistently in maths and science.

Exit rates have also increased, and are particularly high early on in teachers’ careers, with only 60% of teachers remaining in state-funded schools five years after starting.

For high-priority subjects such as physics and maths, the five-year retention drops to just 50%.

‘What we are worried about with Guernsey is that we have good teachers but the best of them are being attracted elsewhere,’ said Mr Woolley.

The report echoed Mr Woolley’s concerns showing that many teachers were able to earn greater incomes outside of the profession.

In alternative maths professions, average graduate salaries are £4,000 above those for teachers.

Maths and most science subjects, in particular, struggle to attract highly-qualified teachers – with as little as half of teachers holding a relevant degree.

These subjects with the lowest proportion of highly-qualified teachers are also those with the greatest recruitment and retention problems.

‘There are many reasons for this, but Guernsey has its own problems,’ said Mr Woolley.

‘If people come for a short period of time they have to consider the cost of living, housing and the added cost of flying back to the UK to visit family.

‘I know of someone who applied for a job as a science teacher and he was the only applicant, but once he saw how much it costs to return to the UK, he decided he couldn’t take the job.

‘There needs to be better strategies across the board as retaining people on Guernsey is difficult.’

He added that the five-year licence can cause an issue, although he didn’t think the two-school system would affect hiring.

‘There was an acting head teacher a few years ago who was doing a brilliant job, everyone wanted her to stay, but it came to the end of her five years and she had to go.

‘I don’t think it has anything to do with the two-school model. Once that all settles down and people get used to the system that should all be OK.

‘But I think the lack of teachers in the UK is something Guernsey should be worried about.’

A spokesman for Education said the turnover of teaching staff was in line with the rest of the public sector.

‘On average, 68 teaching appointments are made in a year, which includes internal transfers,’ they said.

‘As the States employs more than 500 teachers across the Bailiwick this represents a turnover of 12% on average each year, which is in line with the rest of the public sector.

‘We are pleased to confirm that this year’s recruitment campaigns across all phases on education proved highly successful.

‘A total of 70 teachers have been recruited and will be starting in September 2018. Of this, more than 50% are new to Guernsey.’