Nearly half of teachers say number of unfilled positions has worsened

Nearly half of teachers in England have seen the number of teaching posts left unfilled or temporarily filled increase over the past year, a survey suggests.

More than two in three (71%) of teachers surveyed said staff absence due to sickness has increased in their workplace in the last year.

A poll, of more than 14,100 National Education Union (NEU) teacher members in state schools in England, suggests more than half (56%) said the rate of staff leaving their workplace has got worse in the past year.

It found that 48% of teachers said the number of teaching posts unfilled or temporarily filled in their workplace has worsened in the last year.

The findings were released on the first day of the NEU’s annual conference in Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

The NEU, the largest education union in the country, held an indicative ballot of its members on the Government’s recommendation of a 2.8% pay award for teachers in England for the next academic year.

NEU teacher members in state schools in England who took part said they would be willing to take strike action to secure a fully-funded, significantly higher pay award to address the crisis in recruitment and retention.

The 2.8% pay offer was rejected by 93.7% of members who responded to the preliminary electronic ballot – and 83.4% said they would be willing to take action to secure an increased pay award.

The NEU national executive will meet at the union’s annual conference this week to discuss the result of the indicative ballot, which closed on Friday.

An emergency motion on pay is expected to be put to delegates at the conference who could then decide to vote on a formal ballot for strikes.

The NEU is calling for action to tackle workload, increase funding for schools and improve pay to help address the recruitment and retention crisis.

The survey of NEU teacher members carried out between January 28 and February 9, suggests that more than three in five (62%) believe that stress affects them more than 60% of the time.

Three in four (75%) said they frequently find themselves unable to switch off from work-related thoughts and tasks when at home.

Teachers said it is commonplace for them to work evenings (62%), weekends (55%), and more than a third (36%) said they frequently cancel plans in order to get on top of their workload.

The poll suggests that nearly a third (31%) of teachers are “always” dealing with work during the school holidays, with a further 60% “often” or “sometimes” doing so. Just 9% said they have a complete break.

One respondent said: “You feel exhausted all the time and guilty for sacrificing your own family time.

“It is not a profession which allows you to have a life outside of work and it is mentally draining and detrimental to your mental and physical health.”

Another said: “If we had the right staff, the workload would be better. If we had enough staff, workload would be better. Recruitment is the issue.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “It cannot be right that we have a working culture which invades every aspect of a teacher’s life.

“The government’s own figures show that working hours are out of hand and they are getting worse.

“Leaders are forced to stretch staff ever more and the persistent problems with recruitment and retention compound the problem.

“Our members are working long hours in the knowledge there is no army of new colleagues riding to the rescue.”

He added: “We need to see a major pay correction not only to attract more into the profession but also to keep them.

“It is short-sighted of any government to continue to ignore the root-and-branch solutions that are so obviously needed.”

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “We value the incredible school staff in our classrooms – they are vital to improving life chances for all children through our Plan for Change.

“We are working together with partners across the education sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive, expert profession – and are already taking action to ease workload pressures and support wellbeing, embedding flexible working and investing in key education priorities.

“On top of the 5.5% pay award last year, work has also begun to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers, including making £233 million available next year to get more talented people at the front of our classrooms driving high and rising standards for children.”

Published: 14/04/2025 by Radio NewsHubClick here to read this story in full at Radio News Hub