Half of teachers in Kent missing a maths teacher

KentOnline / KMTV

Teachers are being pulled away from Kent by higher wages in places such as London.  Tara Mewawalla reports.

Transcript

00:00If you're looking for a job, how high up on your list is teaching?

00:03It's a pressing question for schools as the industry loses thousands of teachers a year

00:07and is struggling to plug the gaps.

00:09Kent Teaching Solutions links teachers looking for jobs with prospective schools.

00:13Over the last four years, the demand has gone up and it's evidence that there is more

00:19demand for teachers than there used to be.

00:21It's always going to be the core subjects, English, maths and science,

00:25but there will always be a demand for maths.

00:27If we find a maths teacher, they'll get a job straight away.

00:31Pay, workload and work-life balance come up again and again.

00:35Maynaz Bormann is an English teacher at Cornwallis Academy who also coordinates

00:38training for teachers early on in their careers.

00:41The workload is a lot. There's no getting away from it.

00:43You know, when you're a teacher, there is a lot to do.

00:46Planning, marking, assessing, giving feedback and that's just the teaching.

00:51You know, our job isn't just about teaching our subjects.

00:53It's also we're forms tutors.

00:55Some of us have got additional responsibilities.

00:57And yes, it can be a very pressured environment.

01:01To investigate, I asked every school in Kent and Medway how many

01:04maths teacher positions they have and who currently fills them.

01:07Of the schools that replied in full,

01:09half had not been able to fill all their positions with a full-time specialist maths teacher.

01:13Over 90% of maths teacher positions across the schools

01:16altogether are filled by specialist full-time staff.

01:19But to fill the gaps, lessons are taught by supply teachers,

01:22trainee teachers and most commonly other subject teachers taking on maths lessons.

01:26During his campaign, Keir Starmer made it one of his key pledges to tackle

01:30subject teacher shortages at schools, including maths and science.

01:34People working in education tell me that schools have always struggled with recruitment

01:38and retention of teachers, but that the problem has been growing

01:41at a worrying rate over the last five years.

01:44So is the government doing enough to tackle it?

01:46The government has introduced VAT on private schools.

01:49We are committed to increasing the amount of permanent staff in schools.

01:52Labour MP for Chatham and Aylesford,

01:54Tristan Osborne, highlights another challenge specifically for Kent.

01:58We're next to London and London pays teachers a premium.

02:02It's called the London rating.

02:04And so therefore they are hoovering up academics and teachers to teach in London schools.

02:10And so does there need to be a conversation specifically around schools close to London?

02:16He accepted that on its own, the VAT increase on private schools

02:19would not wholly improve the situation.

02:21But he stressed that there would be additional funding sources for schools,

02:24including the direct schools grant and funding for SEN.

02:28It's those in the classroom who will have to wait and see.

02:31Tara Mawawala for KMTV.

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