Northern Ireland education vacancies: ‘Increasingly challenging’ to recruit specialist secondary school teachers, says Education Authority

More than 40,000 teachers left the profession in the past year in England — the highest number since records began. It has increased fears that rising workloads, poor behaviour and stagnant pay is making teaching unattractive there.

The Stormont Department of Education said difficulties in recruiting specialist secondary school teachers are now impacting right across the UK.

Data harvested by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation found that vacancies for secondary schools teachers in NI increased from 32 in February 2020 to 175 in March this year, an increase of 445.9% or 143 posts. The same survey for Primary and Nursery teachers found an increase from 19 to 79 vacancies.

The Education Authority in NI acknowledged there are growing problems in some specialist areas.

“Whilst the majority of teaching vacancies in controlled schools are filled successfully, feedback and evidence from Principals indicates that it is becoming increasingly challenging to fill some teaching vacancies," a spokesperson said.

"It has been reported over the past number of years that teaching posts for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject areas have been difficult to fill. Over the past year data also indicates that there has been a shift towards English and more general subject areas also proving more difficult to fill. EA supports the need for further investment and focus on strategic workforce planning across the NI teaching profession in response to these challenges.”

The Department of Education acknowledged the same problem. “Recruitment for some specialist subjects continues to be challenging," a spokesman said. "This is not an issue for Northern Ireland alone and is replicated across other parts of the UK and beyond. The Department will be working with stakeholders to identify potential solutions in the year ahead, taking account of experiences elsewhere.”

Jacquie White, Ulster Teachers Union General Secretary, said: “Northern Ireland was once a region with an alleged over-supply of teachers. Now that is no longer the case as schools struggle increasingly to fill core teaching posts like science, technology, English and home economics,” she said.

“Already we’re experiencing a brain drain. Why would a newly qualified teacher with thousands of pounds of student debt take a job here when just across in Scotland their starting salary is immediately £8,000 higher?"

Underfunding means teachers are facing increased class sizes, decreased subject choice, narrowed curriculum and an acute shortage of available supply teachers, she said.

Leigh McKay, Vice Principal at Ballyclare Secondary School and UTU Vice President, said a major problem is teachers retiring increasingly early - and young teachers going to teach overseas.

"Teachers are now often retiring at 60 because they are often being asked to teach subjects other than their specialist subject," she said.

"This is often because budget cuts mean schools can no longer afford to fund a French teacher, for example, but may need a teacher for Life and Work Skills instead.

"Many young teachers are going to work in the south, Scotland, Australia or Dubai, where pay is much better."

Larger classes, less resources and old equipment, are adding to the burden of teachers, she said.

Schools may be reluctant to speak out about the issue because they have to sell themselves and compete for pupils with other schools, she added.

However the Department of Education countered that teaching workforce numbers "have risen steadily" since 2018/19 to a current total headcount of 21,416 teachers.

Pupil-teacher ratios have been falling since 2019/20.

In November 2021 there were 1,712 vacancies of which 1,337 were filled, leaving 375 posts unfilled at that time. It also said there are over 8000 registered supply teachers.