In Parliament the MP for Cambridge asked what assessment had been made about the extent of teacher shortages in Cambridgeshire and highlighted the recently released research, commissioned by Cambridge Ahead, identifying the particular structural problems which have made the teacher shortage in Cambridge worse.
Daniel also asked if the Secretary of State would meet Cambridge Ahead and Cambridgeshire MPs to discuss the matter. Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, responding for the Government, agreed.
Watch the video of the parliamentary session on Monday
Notes
1. The numbers of school-aged children in Cambridgeshire are projected to increase over the next ten years. Therefore, ensuring a sufficient supply of teachers in Cambridgeshire will be of great importance.
2. RAND Europe was asked by Cambridge Ahead, a business and academic member group dedicated to the successful growth of Cambridge and the wider county, to examine factors which may lead to secondary school teacher shortages in Cambridgeshire. The report provides information to help gauge the extent to which secondary school teacher shortages are currently present and likely to be present in the future in Cambridgeshire. In addition, these results were compared to the national UK landscape and three other regions – Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and Inner London.
3. Findings: Overall, teacher shortages could be a real threat for Cambridgeshire. The findings strongly suggest that unless more new secondary school teachers are attracted and retained, a shortage of qualified teachers could be imminent in Cambridgeshire. This is largely due to two reasons:
- Cambridgeshire may be seeing insufficient replacement rates of secondary school teachers. Our findings point to a larger gap between the proportions of new entries and retirees in Cambridgeshire compared to the national level. The difference is even starker for secondary school teachers of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), which is particularly problematic given the growing demand for future STEM professionals in the region. Cambridgeshire also experienced smaller proportions of entries and higher proportions of retirees than the three other regions which were examined in the analysis.
- Working conditions for secondary teachers in Cambridgeshire are becoming less attractive. Compared to the national average, secondary school teachers in Cambridgeshire are: (1) more likely to earn a salary within lower pay ranges; (2) more likely to work part-time; and (3) since 2010 are more likely to work under fixed-term or temporary contracts. These conditions may be making Cambridgeshire less attractive for teachers to work than other regions.
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