LIB DEM COMMENTS ON HARINGEY TEACHER SHORTAGES SURVEY

1.11.02

Haringey Liberal Democrats have sounded a warning over the state of Haringey’s schools following the publication of a survey from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). The survey shows that nearly one in ten teaching staff in Haringey do not have qualified teacher status and that teacher vacancies in Haringey are running at nearly double the London average.

Commenting, Lib Dem Education Spokesman, Cllr Ross Laird said:

"Teacher training and recruitment is a constant problem in Haringey Council schools. Part of the problem is that the Labour Government is still not doing enough to support and assist people who want to become teachers. Other problems relate to poor Ofsted reports Haringey has received and people's perception of the Council. We cannot just blame house prices as Haringey's teacher shortage is more acute than in most London Boroughs."

"We believe that Haringey schools will be unable to recruit the necessary staff while the LEA's services fail to meet Ofsted's targets. Even in the most optimistic scenario, that date is still some way off and our schools will continue to struggle."

Note:

The NAHT received 18 responses from Haringey schools - covering just over 244 staff. From those results, 12.8% of Full Time Equivalent posts (including those filled by temporary and supply staff) were unfilled (compared to a London-wide picture of 7.2%) and 8.8% of the staff did not have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

A full copy of the survey results is available at www.naht.org.uk

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