Teacher supply 'crisis'

A DECLINE in education standards could occur as schools struggle to cover classes with specialist teachers amid recruitment and retention challenges, MPs have been told.

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Schools are increasingly having to rely on cover staff and non-subject specialists to teach pupils due to teacher vacancies, education leaders have warned.

Union bosses told the Commons Education Select Committee that there is a "crisis" in teacher supply, with one leader warning there is not a school in the country which is not being affected by shortages.

Dame Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, told MPs on Tuesday: "We're getting to the point where if you can't even find a supply teacher, if there isn't even someone that you can phone up that can come in, it gets to desperate stakes.