TEACHING vacancies advertised by primary and secondary schools across Somerset rose last year, new figures suggest.

Data from teaching jobs site TeachVac shows primary and secondary schools in Somerset posted 1,239 vacancies on its website in 2022 – up by 71 per cent on 724 the year before. 

Of these, 411 were advertised by primary schools and 828 by secondary schools.

Somerset County Council says it does not collect data on school-level vacancies because trusts across the county employ their own staff.

It also says its level of interim school leaders is coming down, while it is investing in its ability to "attract the best teachers and leaders".

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said teacher shortages across the UK are at a "crisis point" and urged the government to address falling recruitment and retention.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said the government repeatedly misses trainee recruitment targets and nearly a third of new teachers leave the profession within five years of qualifying.

Mr Barton said: "This is the result of a decade of real terms pay cuts which have eroded the value of salaries and workload pressures caused by government underfunding of education, leaving staff doing more work with fewer resources.

"If schools cannot put teachers in front of classes, they cannot possibly maintain and improve educational standards."

In Somerset, state school and private school vacancies advertised through TeachVac rose by 71 per cent.

A Somerset County Council spokesperson said: “We do not collect data on school-level vacancies, as there are many different employers in the county because all school trusts employ their own staff.

“We have had very high levels of interim leaders for many years, compared to other parts of the country, but in the past two years this appears to be coming down.

“We are currently investing in improving our capacity to attract the best teachers and leaders into the country, and to provide a high-quality traded service to schools.”

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of teaching trade union NASUWT, said: "The crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is the product of 12 years of failure by a government that has lost the confidence of the teaching profession.

"It is little wonder that the government’s failure to invest in the profession has resulted in many experienced teachers and headteachers quitting the profession prematurely as a consequence of real terms pay cuts and ever-rising workload pressures."

The Department for Education has said there are 24,000 more teachers working in state-funded schools than in 2010.