Welsh Conservatives have called on the Welsh Labour Government to confront the growing teacher recruitment crisis afflicting Welsh education.
In an Assembly debate, the Shadow Education Secretary – Darren Millar AM – called on the Welsh Labour Government to develop a ‘National School Workforce Plan for Wales’.
According to data published by the independent regulator in Wales, teacher recruitment targets are being missed in almost all subjects:
- In 2016/17, only History and Business Studies hit their targets;
- Modern Foreign Languages failed to recruit even half of theirs;
- Wales’ three teacher training centres recruited 600 teachers in 2015/16 – a shortfall of 31.8% on their target of 880 places.
Meanwhile, The National Education Workforce Survey found that 88.3% of teachers cannot handle their workloads, while 33.6% of respondents indicated that they intend to leave the profession in the next three years.
Shadow Education Secretary, Darren Millar, said:
“Welsh education is suffering the consequences of a growing crisis in teacher recruitment and, with workforce surveys suggesting that a third of teachers are thinking of leaving the profession, the situation looks set to get even worse.
“The crisis is leading to a growing reliance on agency staff in Welsh schools and subjects such as science and maths being taught by teachers who aren’t equipped to deliver them. If this crisis continues to go unchecked then pupil achievement and will suffer and Wales will fall even further down the international league tables.
“We want to see a National School Workforce Plan for Wales to tackle this crisis head-on, ensuring that Welsh schools are able to recruit the teachers they need so that pupils can achieve their full potential.
“Children and young people only get one at their education and we must not let them down, only a comprehensive National School Workforce Plan will ensure that Wales has a thriving teaching profession and which helps our children to flourish.”