The growing shortage of teachers across Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands has been called a ‘timebomb’ for local education.
Retired Aspley headteacher Michael McKeever gave the warning as the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) published a survey showing nationally 59 per cent of schools advertising posts struggle to get applicants.
And regionally around one in five schools have failed to fill a teaching job when it became vacant.
The number of opportunities to train as a teacher has been declining for years
It is feared a shortage of teachers will lead to bigger class sizes and lower standards.
Mr McKeever was previously in charge of Trinity School in Aspley.
He now works for a teaching recruitment agency, Aquinas Education, set up in part to fill the growing gap of applicants in the sector.
He said: “The NAHT report has given us statistical evidence of what we have known for a long time.
“There is a very big decline in people applying for the role of teaching and to be trained as a teacher.
“Why? The reasons probably are the language of criticism and failure has finally impacted on recruitment. The number of opportunities to train as a teacher has been declining for years.”
He added: “To be honest with you, this is a timebomb.”
Video: Former headteacher Michael McKeever on the crisis of teacher recruitment
And some current teachers also believe the shortage is about to get much worse.
Sally Bates, NAHT member and headteacher of Wadsworth Fields Primary, Stapleford, said: “There’s an awful lot of headteachers and senior leaders coming up for retirement.
“We’ve known about that for a long time. We have a growth spurt, so we have more and more children
coming in to our schools – primary and secondary – we also have failed to recruit sufficient newly-qualified teachers.”
Mr McKeever said nationally the profession is now often associated with poor pay and criticism from Government, which is pushing people away from the profession.
Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, has defended the Government’s record on teacher recruitment and education.
She told Notts TV last week: “I think Nottingham schools are coming together to really raise standards and we will support them by making sure they can recruit great teachers and leaders that absolutely can make a difference.”
Video: Education Secretary Nicky Morgan on the drive to improve school standards in Nottingham
