TEACHING vacancies advertised by primary and secondary schools across Cumbria rose significantly last year - according to reports

Data from teaching jobs site TeachVac shows primary and secondary schools in Cumbria posted 644 vacancies through its website over the course of 2022 - up by 34% on 481 the year before.

Of these, 241 were advertised by primary schools and 403 by secondary schools.

Chris Brooksbank, District Secretary at National Education Union said he is "not surprised" that vacancies are up even in "fabulous Cumbria".

"Pay has fallen by over 20% over the last decade. Teacher training is in disarray and pressure on people doing the job is simply unsustainable."

"I get requests for information on resignation dates, from young teachers wanting to leave education almost every week, and often from experienced staff about how they can retire early.

"Recruitment and retention challenges are county wide and impact at all levels including senior positions. This is now being masked by schools sharing Headteachers and by asking support staff to teach whole classes on a regular basis."

"An improved approach towards the profession and big investment is needed. At the moment we hear platitudes and nonsense from the government, they would be graded inadequate on almost any objective measure, while schools and their staff continue to struggle on and do their best."

Across England, teacher vacancies increased significantly in 2022 as the profession faced increasing recruitment and retention pressures following the coronavirus pandemic.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said the Government repeatedly misses trainee recruitment targets, and nearly a third of new teachers leave the profession within five years of qualifying.

Mr Barton said: "This is the result of a decade of real terms pay cuts which have eroded the value of salaries and workload pressures caused by government underfunding of education, leaving staff doing more work with fewer resources.

"If schools cannot put teachers in front of classes, they cannot possibly maintain and improve educational standards.

"The Government must work with the profession on a strategy to improve teacher recruitment and retention and back this up with sufficient funding."

Across the country, the increase in teacher vacancies through TeachVac was largely driven by state schools, where job advertisements increased by 68% in 2022, compared with 52% for independent schools.

In Cumbria, state school advertisements jumped by 34%, while private school vacancies rose from 32 to 42.

The Department for Education said there are 24,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools than in 2010.