Two Bath-based teachers, George Samios from Twerton Infant School and Nursery and Jessica Lobbett from Oldfield School, recently met with Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, in Parliament to discuss how to tackle underfunding in schools as well as addressing the recruitment and retention issues affecting the education sector.
It comes as it has been revealed through research by the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, that since 2017, teacher vacancies across the South West have skyrocketed, rising by 175% from 82 to 226. That means that around one in every 200 positions across the region are now vacant – six years ago it was just one in every 500.
Data from the Library also revealed that nationally, the number of teachers leaving the sector a year has risen by 12.9% compared with 2017 levels. It means that the number of teachers leaving altogether stood close to 39,930 last year, or 8.8% of the workforce. That is up from 35,376 in 2017.
“The impact of years of underfunding for education has created a recruitment and retention crisis for our schools,” said Jessica. “The future of our children is the most important investment that we can make. Their prospects, wellbeing and life chances depend on this. Education must be a higher priority for this and future governments if we are to give them the opportunities that they deserve.”
Wera Hobhouse commented, “Teachers deserve a fair wage for the vital work they do, and need to be empowered to give high-quality education to their pupils. By ensuring we have motivated teachers, we ensure that children have a good education and that the next generations have a positive and exciting future.”