Schools watchdog: Staff shortages exacerbating problems in pandemic recovery

Staff shortages are compounding problems in education as schools struggle to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, a watchdog has warned.

The energy crisis and subsequent economic pressures have brought “more turbulence” in recent months, Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman said.

The watchdog’s annual report, which focuses on the education and social care sectors in England in the period from September 2021 to August 2022, finds that while there has been improvement, recovery remains a work in progress.

In her report Ms Spielman noted that while the new economic pressures which “have really started to bite this autumn” are not within the time period of the report, it is known “they are already making life harder for the education and social care sectors and testing the resilience of both”.

The report stated that many of the problems identified in the sectors are “either created or exacerbated” by workforce issues, and urged staffing to be addressed in order to ensure education and social care can be “resilient in the face of future challenges”.

In schools, there is “frustration” when it comes to recruitment, the report stated.

It said: “Teacher recruitment continues to be a frustration for leaders in schools, colleges and independent learning providers. Schools also report shortages of teaching assistants. Colleges are finding it difficult to recruit tutors in many areas.

“Fewer college staff can result in larger class sizes of mixed abilities, making it difficult to pitch the training at the right level.”

Staffing issues also feed into continued pressure within the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, the report said.

It stated: “Delays in assessing children and young people for education, health and care plans are a persistent problem. These are caused by rising demand, staff absences and recruitment issues.”

Ofsted insisted the education and social care sectors “need to be able to recruit and retain talented and capable people”, as successful teachers, carers, tutors and trainers “all play their part in supporting the economy and advancing society”.

Both a decrease in demand as more parents work from home and some childminders choosing to take better paid jobs, have led to a drop in registered childminder numbers, the report said.

When it comes to nurseries, many lack enough qualified and experienced staff as nursery chains have grown too fast to keep pace with the number of high-quality workers they need, the report said, with some facing closure as a result.

On a positive note, Ofsted hailed Government changes to teacher training and development which the watchdog said brings “more coherence to the system”.

The report stated: “Last year’s report described the pandemic impact on education and social care and this year’s report describes the extent of recovery. It remains a work in progress.”

It said the lasting impact of education lost in the pandemic “will take time to reveal itself fully, in terms of achievement as well as any longer-term harm to mental or physical health” and pointed to attainment gaps in this summer’s exam results which it said shows “the scale of the task that lies ahead”.

When GCSE results came out in August, there were calls for an urgent recovery plan for schools after the gap in top grades between the north and south of England widened.

As expected, with the return to formal exams for the first time in three years, top grades fell from 2021 levels but remained higher than in 2019, although Labour accused the Conservative Government of having “failed” children amid regional disparities in results.

Of her report, published on Tuesday, Ms Spielman, said: “The pandemic continued to cast a shadow over education and children’s social care for much of the past year.

“And the energy crisis and economic pressures have brought more turbulence in recent months. So I would like to record my thanks to everyone working in education and care for their efforts in what was clearly another very difficult year.”

She added: “It’s clear that in education – and in children’s social care – staffing issues are compounding problems standing in the way of a full recovery.”

Ms Spielman shared her disappointment at the scrapping of the Schools Bill earlier this month, saying it would have given Ofsted increased powers “to tackle the problem of unregistered schools”.

She said the issue expands beyond schools, with more than 9,000 children in unregistered alternative provision in England and almost 600 possibly unregistered children’s homes.

The watchdog opened more than 100 new investigations into possible illegal schools in 2021-22, carried out 120 inspections and issued 19 warning notices, data published in October showed. It said there had been one prosecution of an illegal school this year.

Ms Spielman told reporters during a briefing as her report was published: “I’m reassured that the Education Secretary remains committed to the objectives from that Bill and we very much hope those measures are given the priority they need in future legislative select sessions.”

Ofsted said it had found that 88% of all state-funded schools are now judged good or outstanding, an increase of almost two percentage points from 2021; 70% of schools previously judged as requiring improvement are now good or outstanding following inspection last year; and the proportion of colleges judged good or outstanding has increased by 11 percentage points to 91%.

The report lamented the state of prison education, saying that halfof the prisons Ofsted inspected this year were judged inadequate and 10 required improvement.

It stated: “The pandemic had a chilling effect on prison education and the thaw is yet to come.”