The number of trainee teachers has fallen despite the Government spending almost double on recruitment adverts since 2015.
In 2022/23 the Department for Education spent more than £13m on job advertisements for trainee teachers.
But the number of new entrants to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) at the end of that spending period fell by 5 per cent. This comes after a fall of 20 per cent the previous year.
In 2015/16 the amount spent on teacher training ads was just under £7m annually, which soared to more than £12m a year, on average, up until 2022. Last year it increased, again, by almost half a million to more than 13m.
Government data shows, however, that the secondary school recruitment target has been missed in eight out of the past nine years.
Maths teacher recruitment has shown a sharp decline, with just 63 per cent of the ITT target reached – a fall of 25 per cent.
Almost all subjects recruited fewer teachers this year, with physics recruiting just 17 per cent of the teachers needed.
Design and technology, modern foreign languages and computing are all subjects with fewer than 50 per cent of the required teachers.
Recruitment for secondary school trainee teachers overall was at 50 per cent of what was required last year.
The data was revealed in an answer to a Parliamentary question tabled by Liberal Democrat Munira Wilson.
Industry insiders have referred to the recruitment slowdown in the sector as a “crisis”, with unions warning teacher shortages will impact education for children.
