LoginTeacher Recruitment
In developing the action plan, the Council collected a range of evidence relating to recruitment, retention and supply in Wales. Details are set out below and copies of the relevant reports are available for download.
Teacher Recruitment Survey 2002
In providing such advice, the Council drew attention to the fact that current data on recruitment and retention did not necessarily represent a totally accurate picture, and considered it important to gain accurate and statistically reliable information on this matter.
In order to gather continuing evidence in this area, the Council issued teacher recruitment and retention questionnaires to headteachers in all 227 secondary schools and 1609 primary schools in Wales in late August 2002.
The surveys, which received excellent response rates of nearly 80%, make the Council well placed to give specific advice to the Welsh Assembly Government on behalf of teaching the profession. Indeed, it is intended that the research will be used by the Council to contribute towards a multi-agency Action Plan for Recruitment and Retention in Wales, which is expected to be produced by mid-year 2003.
The surveys, build on an initial survey undertaken in 2001 in the secondary sector, which concentrated on a limited number of subject areas where the Council had anecdotal evidence of teacher shortages. The survey undertaken in 2001 received a response rate of 73.6% and the results from the study were widely publicised. The Council’s research highlighted a number of serious concerns, including:
- alarmingly low numbers of applicants for posts in certain subjects;
- the need for headteachers to be increasingly innovative in filling posts;
- some posts continuing to remain vacant despite the best efforts of headteachers to recruit;
- an exacerbation of recruitment difficulties where subjects were taught through the medium of Welsh;
- subjects often taught at Key Stage 4 and above by teachers with no relevant qualifications in the subject.
In keeping with the survey carried out in 2001, this new study was conducted with the full support of a number of key partners, including the Welsh Assembly Government and teacher unions.
The 2002 survey is available to download in PDF from here (971k)
The 2001 survey is still available in PDF (515k).
A 21st Century Teaching Profession for Wales – A multi-agency conference on teacher recruitment and retention
A 21st Century Teaching Profession for Wales "A multi-agency conference on teacher recruitment and retention" was a joint initiative organised by the following bodies in 2002:
- Association of Directors of Education in Wales (ADEW)
- The General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW)
- HEFCW
- Standing Conference on Education in Wales (SCEW)
- TTA (Recruitment Adviser for Wales)
- UCET Cymru
- University Subject Panel (USP) (Education) with the collaboration of the Welsh Assembly Government.
The conference was intended to be a key step in the development of an Action Plan for recruitment and retention in the teaching profession in Wales, by providing an opportunity for national and local organisations and individual schools and institutions to identify the strategies and solutions needed to address teacher recruitment and retention.
The conference held on 9th December 2002 at the Moat House Hotel, Cardiff was attended by some 70 delegates, with a broad representation from a cross-section of groups, including head teachers, teacher organisations, initial teacher educators, higher education institutions, LEAs and other national organisations.
The conference programme was developed in a way that provided delegates with anopportunity to hear presentations from a number of prominent figures in the field of education, while also offering discussion group sessions on specific issues relating to recruitment and retention, in order to capture a broad range of ideas for inclusion in the GTCW Action Plan.
A copy of the conference report is available to download in PDF from here (448k)
Review of teacher recruitment, supply and retention in Wales by Cardiff University School of Social Sciences
The Council commissioned a review of teacher recruitment, supply and retention in Wales to Cardiff University School of Social Sciences in 2002.
The brief for this project was to complete "a detailed desk based study of existing secondary sources on teacher recruitment and retention" comprising two related research activities: a search of existing literature in the area and the collection and analysis of relevant secondary data. Where possible, the project was also to make recommendations for policy, data collection and further research.
A copy of the report prepared by the Cardiff University researchers is available to download in PDF from here (1281k)