Fall in secondary school teacher recruitment adverts

The latest Teacher Recruitment and Retention Report by Teacher Tapp and SchoolDash has found that the number of adverts for secondary school teachers in 2024-25 has decreased by 31 per cent compared with 2023-24, and is 22 per cent lower than in 2018-19.

The report, funded funded by the Gatsby Charitable, says that possible causes for this include a negative rebound from the elevated levels of activity seen in recent years, lower overall demand driven by squeezed school enrolments and budgets and general labour-market conditions.

Arts, humanties and technology subjects saw the smallest decreases compared to pre-pandemic baseline.

Meanwhile, recruitment activity tended to be higher in London and the South East, and at schools with higher proportions of poor pupils.
    
The report also found that headteacher turnover across both primary and secondary schools in England had fallen compared to recent years and is now at, or even slightly below, pre-pandemic levels.

The report does add that peak season for recruitment is usually in late April or early May, and they intent to provide an update in the summer in order to review activity across the whole current academic year.