The Government’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has warned that teacher shortages across the UK are growing, with particular issues in science.

Its report Training New Teachers found that secondary school teacher training places are proving particularly difficult to fill.  Insufficient numbers of trainees are being recruited in the majority of secondary subjects: 14 out of 17 secondary subjects had unfilled training places in 2015-16, compared with two subjects with unfilled places in 2010-11.

In subjects with hard-to-fill places, providers are more likely to accept trainees with lower degree classifications.  And in secondary schools, the report claims that more classes are now taught by teachers without a relevant post-A Level qualification in their subject.

The report calls on the government to do more to demonstrate how new routes and incentives for training new teachers are improving the quality of teaching in classrooms.