Recruitment of support and auxiliary staff at schools and colleges in England: An update

  • There has been a large and sustained increases in recruitment activity since the end of the pandemic across a wide range of support and auxiliary positions.
  • There are, however, differences by type of role. The biggest percentage increases have been for pastoral managers, cover supervisors, caretakers/cleaners and attendance officers. The biggest increases in absolute numbers of adverts have been for teaching assistants, cover supervisors and administrative assistants.
  • The persistence of these trends three years after the end of the pandemic may force us to conclude that these are no longer temporary abberations, but a new normal to which the education system must adapt.
Figure 1: Mentions of support and auxiliary staff roles on websites of secondary schools and colleges in England
All schools and coll...All schools and collegesSecondary schools on...Secondary schools only3 Sep 1826 Nov 1818 Feb 1913 May 195 Aug 1928 Oct 1920 Jan 2013 Apr 206 Jul 2028 Sep 2021 Dec 2015 Mar 217 Jun 2130 Aug 2122 Nov 2114 Feb 229 May 221 Aug 2224 Oct 2216 Jan 2310 Apr 233 Jul 2325 Sep 2318 Dec 23Week commencing01002003004005006007008009001000Number of adverts (3-week moving average)01000
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 2: Mentions of support and auxiliary staff roles on websites of secondary schools and colleges in England
2018/192019/202020/212021/222022/232023/2431 Aug14 Sep28 Sep12 Oct26 Oct9 Nov23 Nov7 Dec21 Dec4 Jan18 Jan1 Feb15 Feb1 Mar15 Mar29 Mar12 Apr26 Apr10 May24 May7 Jun21 Jun5 Jul19 Jul2 Aug16 Aug30 AugWeek commencing01002003004005006007008009001000Number of adverts01000
Notes: Dates on the horizontal axis are for the 2020-2021 academic year. Values for 2019-2020 are those corresponding to periods exactly 52 weeks earlier, those for 2018-2019 to 104 weeks earlier, those for 2021-2022 to 52 weeks later, those for 2022-2023 to 104 weeks later and those for 2023-2024 to 156 weeks later. This aligns days of the week at the expense of a slight mismatch in dates.
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 3: Change in numbers of advertisements by role
AdministrativeAssistantAttendanceOfficerBusinessManagerCaretaker/CleanerCoverSupervisorHLTAHRManagerLearningMentorLunchtimeSupervisorPastoralManagerSiteManagerSportsCoachTeachingAssistant-50050100150200250300350400Percentage change in adverts-504002022/23 v 2018/192023/24 v 2018/19 Se...2023/24 v 2018/19 Sep-Feb
Notes: 'HLTA' stands for Higher Level Teaching Assistant. 'HR Manager' stands for Human Resources Manager.
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
 

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

  • 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.
Figure 1: Teacher recruitment adverts among mainstream secondary schools and colleges in England
Sep 2017Mar 2018Sep 2018Mar 2019Sep 2019Mar 2020Sep 2020Mar 2021Sep 2021Mar 2022Sep 2022Mar 2023Sep 2023Mar 2024020040060080010001200140016001800200022002400Number of teacher recruitment advertisements02400
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 2: Teacher recruitment adverts among mainstream secondary schools and colleges in England
2018/192019/202020/212021/222022-20232023-202431 Aug14 Sep28 Sep12 Oct26 Oct9 Nov23 Nov7 Dec21 Dec4 Jan18 Jan1 Feb15 Feb1 Mar15 Mar29 Mar12 Apr26 Apr10 May24 May7 Jun21 Jun5 Jul19 Jul2 Aug16 Aug30 AugWeek commencing020040060080010001200140016001800200022002400Number of teacher recruitment advertisements02400
Note: Dates on the horizontal axis are for the 2020-2021 academic year. Values for 2019-2020 are those corresponding to periods exactly 52 weeks earlier, those for 2018-2019 to 104 weeks earlier, those for 2021-2022 to 52 weeks later, those for 2022-2023 to 104 weeks later and those for 2023-2024 to 156 weeks later. This aligns days of the week at the expense of a slight mismatch in dates.
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 3: Cumulative difference in teacher recruitment adverts relative to 2017-2018 academic year
Sep 2018Mar 2019Sep 2019Mar 2020Sep 2020Mar 2021Sep 2021Mar 2022Sep 2022Mar 2023Sep 2023Mar 2024-10000-8000-6000-4000-2000020004000600080001000012000Number of teacher recruitment advertisements-1000012000
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 4: Teacher recruitment adverts among mainstream secondary schools and colleges in England
2018/192019/202020/212021/222022-20232023-202431 Aug14 Sep28 Sep12 Oct26 Oct9 Nov23 Nov7 Dec21 Dec4 Jan18 Jan1 Feb15 Feb1 Mar15 Mar29 Mar12 Apr26 Apr10 May24 May7 Jun21 Jun5 Jul19 Jul2 Aug16 Aug30 AugWeek commencing020040060080010001200140016001800200022002400Number of teacher recruitment advertisements02400
Note: Dates on the horizontal axis are for the 2020-2021 academic year. Values for 2019-2020 are those corresponding to periods exactly 52 weeks earlier, those for 2018-2019 to 104 weeks earlier, those for 2021-2022 to 52 weeks later, those for 2022-2023 to 104 weeks later and those for 2023-2024 to 156 weeks later. This aligns days of the week at the expense of a slight mismatch in dates.
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 5: Technician recruitment adverts among mainstream secondary schools and colleges in England
2018/192019/202020/212021/222022-20232023-202431 Aug14 Sep28 Sep12 Oct26 Oct9 Nov23 Nov7 Dec21 Dec4 Jan18 Jan1 Feb15 Feb1 Mar15 Mar29 Mar12 Apr26 Apr10 May24 May7 Jun21 Jun5 Jul19 Jul2 Aug16 Aug30 AugWeek commencing020406080100120140160180200220Number of technician recruitment advertisements0220
Note: Dates on the horizontal axis are for the 2020-2021 academic year. Values for 2019-2020 are those corresponding to periods exactly 52 weeks earlier, those for 2018-2019 to 104 weeks earlier, those for 2021-2022 to 52 weeks later, those for 2022-2023 to 104 weeks later and those for 2023-2024 to 156 weeks later. This aligns days of the week at the expense of a slight mismatch in dates.
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
Figure 6: Cumulative difference in technician recruitment adverts relative to 2017-2018 academic year
Sep 2018Mar 2019Sep 2019Mar 2020Sep 2020Mar 2021Sep 2021Mar 2022Sep 2022Mar 2023Sep 2023Mar 2024-1000-500050010001500200025003000350040004500Number of technician recruitment advertisements-10004500
Sources: School and college websites; SchoolDash Insights; SchoolDash analysis.
 

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