Commenting on the NFER’s Teacher Labour Market 2024 report, which shows that problems with the recruitment and retention of teachers are persisting, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said:

“This is yet further damning evidence of a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention caused by the Government’s failure to invest in and value the teaching profession.

“Without measures to address the systemic failings of excessive workload, long working hours and pay erosion, this is a crisis that is set to go from bad to much worse.

“Teachers and school leaders have persistently reported that pupil behaviour has deteriorated since the pandemic and that dealing with disruption, verbal and physical abuse and pupils with mental health problems is taking up an increasing amount of their time.

“The lack of specialist services and external support has left teachers and school leaders being expected to play the role of counsellor, behaviour therapist and security guard, in addition to their teaching responsibilities.

“Set against a backdrop of declining and increasingly uncompetitive rates of pay, it is little wonder that experienced teachers and headteachers are leaving prematurely and fewer graduates are choosing to come into teaching.

“The next Government cannot follow its predecessor by burying its head in the sand over the scale of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis. The implications are becoming greater with each passing year, as is the cost to our children and young people of inaction by ministers.”