This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Teacher vacancies and probationer allocations 2006
27/06/2006
The annual survey of teacher and educational psychologist vacancies is published today.
The survey covers all local authority schools, including pre-school teachers. Figures for educational psychologists are also collected.
The main findings were:
- There were 774 teacher vacancies advertised at February 2006, equivalent to 1.6 per cent of the full teaching complement. The number of vacancies had decreased from 1,164 in 2005.
- There were 245 advertised posts which had been vacant for more than three months, 31 per cent of vacancies, and equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the full teaching complement. This number of vacancies has decreased from 439 in 2005.
- Vacancy rates were 1.3 per cent in primary (0.4 per cent for more than three months) and 1.5 per cent in secondary (0.4 per cent for more than three months).
- Music and Home Economics were the subject areas with the highest vacancy rates, with 2.9 and 2.8 per cent respectively (0.4 and 1.0 per cent respectively for more than 3 months). Vacancies amongst additional support needs teachers in secondary schools was 3.7 per cent, though this figure is affected by differing reporting procedures among local authorities.
- In English the vacancy rate was 1.7 per cent (down from 3.6 per cent in 2005) and in Maths was below the average for secondaries at 1.3 per cent (down from 2.8 per cent in 2005). Vacancies lasting for more than three months were 0.5 per cent for English and 0.4 per cent for Maths, similar to the secondary sector average.
- There were also 15 vacancies for educational psychologists, or 3.5 per cent of educational psychologists posts.
- As at June 20, 2006 there were 3,787 probationer teachers provisionally allocated to publicly funded schools for 2006-07, 87 per cent of whom were allocated to their first or second choice authorities.
The vacancy information in this statistical publication notice is derived from the February 2006 teacher and educational psychologist vacancy survey. It includes vacancies that had been advertised for permanent appointments or appointments of at least one term's duration, which existed at February 18, 2006.
The Executive carries out an annual teacher workforce planning exercise to help determine the number of places required in teacher training institutions. The vacancies information collected in this survey informs this process in monitoring teacher supply and in setting priorities in subject areas.
Vacancy rates have been calculated using figures for the teaching complement supplied as part of the survey. Comparison of these complement figures with the results of the teacher census show an undercount of the workforce reported in the vacancy survey. This means that true vacancy rates are in some cases likely to be very slightly lower than those shown here, though generally there is at most 0.1 per cent difference.
Vacancies for integrated special units have not been treated consistently between local authorities. Some have included such vacancies (and the workforce complement) in the sectors in which they are integrated, whereas others have been included in the special sector.
The probationer information in this statistical publication notice is the number of probationers that were allocated to each authority as at June 20, 2006. Final placements may be different where students decide not to take up their allocation to a particular authority.