The 2023/24 recruiting season for secondary schools and colleges in England: An interim report

The last time we reported on secondary school and college recruitment in England, back in June 2023, activity was at an all-time high. After two depressed years during the pandemic, we had just seen a second post-pandemic year of hyperactivity and ended up wondering how long the after-effects of COVID-19 would go on. As peak hiring season for the current academic year approaches, we are in a position to start exploring that question.

This interim analysis finds that:

• So far in 2023/24, recruitment of teachers is running close to the exceptionally elevated levels seen in 2022/23. However, this is mainly due to higher-than-usual levels seen between September and December, when activity is usually low. Since then, it has fallen closer to pre-pandemic levels. It remains to be seen whether the current academic year will end up showing higher overall activity than a typical pre-pandemic year, or simply a shift of activity to earlier in the school year.
• There are considerable differences by subject, with English, Mathematics and Science back at roughly pre-pandemic levels, while Art, Music and Drama remain elevated. There are also regional disparities, with activity in the North East now below pre-pandemic levels, while that in the North West and West Midlands remains much higher than before COVID-19 struck.
• Technician positions are fewer in number than teacher positions, but adverts for them have seen a much bigger proportional rise since the end of the pandemic. Levels this year are much closer to normal, but still somewhat elevated, with variations by subject.
• It is unclear how many of these ongoing anomalies are due to the continuing direct effects of the pandemic as opposed to other demographic and socioeconomic disruptions, such as Brexit, the cost-of-living crisis and the current tight labour market. It may be that school recruitment in England will never quite to return to its pre-pandemic state.