Figures show more vacancies for teachers in England

July 02 2008

Vacancies for teachers in England have risen noticeably over the last year, according to new figures.

Released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the statistics indicate that there are nearly 500 more vacant posts in 2008 than there were in 2007.

This brings the figure up to 2,510 in nursery, primary, secondary and special schools.

Educational institutions are struggling to fill teaching positions, with a drop in the number of applicants for teacher training schemes.

And these statistics follow the publication of a report yesterday, which suggested that there is no longer a specialist physics teacher in 25 per cent of England's state schools

However, position availability has grown despite the data indicating that the provision of teachers in state schools in England has actually slightly improved, with the overall teacher:pupil ratio decreasing from 17 to 16.8 over the last year.

And the numbers of teachers has risen by 1,900 to 441,200 between 2007 and 2008.

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