Nine vacant teaching posts in States secondary schools

Education, Sport & Culture has filled 52 out of 61 vacancies for permanent secondary teachers so far this year.

It said this was a ‘successful recruitment drive’, but refused to disclose how the number of resignations and remaining vacancies compared with previous years.

Primary schools had 15 vacancies for permanent teachers in the next academic year and all have now been filled.

Special schools have filled seven of 11 vacancies for permanent teachers.

‘At this stage we are in a very healthy position from a staffing perspective in advance of the new academic year in September,’ said director of education Nick Hynes.

‘We have had a successful recruitment drive where we have appointed 15 teachers in primary, 52 in secondary and seven in special schools.

‘Where we have existing permanent vacancies within a sector we have already secured agency staff known to us to fulfil these roles.

‘These staff will cover these roles while we continue our recruitment to fill them.’

The Guernsey Press asked how many teachers resigned in the first six months of this year, how many vacancies remained to be filled, and what the equivalent figures were in recent previous years.

‘The team leading on recruiting teachers continues to be very busy and focused on the priority of recruitment.

‘We have not gone back over previous years as it would take a member of staff some considerable time and take them away from their priority duties,’ said Mr Hynes.

ESC has also appointed three permanent teachers in the primary phase who will work across the island to cover short-term absence and work on curriculum development.

Mr Hynes said ESC’s recent recruitment drive was particularly successful in view of teacher shortages in the UK.

‘As we have stated consistently, recruiting to certain specialist positions like science teachers, for example, is a challenge nationally, so we are pleased to be in a positive position heading towards September.

‘We will continue to use agency staff where needed to ensure positions are filled.’

ESC is relaunching a teacher training programme for local residents in September.

Mr Hynes said he was looking forward to those enrolled on the course filling roles next year.

The States employs almost 600 teachers.