Welsh Conservative research has revealed that the majority of councils in Wales do not hold data on the number of teacher vacancies that exist in their schools and Labour’s Education Minister has revealed in written questions that he does not know how many vacant posts are being filled by new teachers.
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that:
- The majority of local councils do not hold data on teacher vacancies.
- Individual schools do not report teacher vacancy data back to local councils.
- Local councils do not count a teacher position as vacant if there is a temporary supply teacher filling the role.
Commenting on the shocking data, Welsh Conservative Shadow Education Minister, Laura Anne Jones MS said:
It is deeply concerning that local councils do not hold teacher vacancy data. For the majority of councils to be unaware of how many teacher vacancies there are makes it extremely difficult to budget and fill teacher vacancies.
It also raises the question of accuracy in regards to the Labour Government’s figures on current teacher numbers. How can the Labour Government appropriately allocate funding for schools and councils to hire new teachers and how do they know how many teachers they need to recruit?
There is an education crisis in Wales one of Labour’s own making, they have slashed the education budget in real terms and the impact of these cuts are more frequently being seen resulting in a growing attainment gap and the worst PISA results in the UK. The Welsh Conservatives would boost our schools by delivering 5,000 more teachers across Wales.
ENDS
