Recruitment and Retention in the Post-16 Learning and Skills Sector

10.18 Development and progression opportunities could be more clearlystructured across the sector. Availability of training is generallyregarded as good however, constraints on time mean that attendancecan cause negative ‘knock on effects’ and implementing new learningcan be compromised. There is a desire among some to progress inresponsibility but to remain as practising teachers/trainers. However,elements of management responsibility may be inevitable as levels ofexperience and wider responsibilities grow.10.19 Promoting the sector and its benefits in order to give it clearer definitionand to encourage potential recruits is an important requirement. Thismay be challenging, even just across the range of further educationprovision. Consideration must be given to whether it can be effectivelyachieved across the whole post-16 learning and skills sector.10.20 The issue of paper work and bureaucracy was raised regularly by staff.This is not a new issue within the sector and has been the subject ofdrives to reduce its impact. There may be little that can be done tochange this significantly; although staff feel increased administrativesupport may help.10.21 One element of the study focused specifically on maths and scienceteacher. There is limited evidence of systematic problems in mathsand science areas, although there are a number of less positiveattitudes among science staff. A summary of issues across the twosectors is as follows:• there does not appear to be excessive vacancies compared withother subject areas;• there is some evidence of hard to fill vacancies but they do notappear extreme;• there are some concerns regarding the effectiveness of measuresto address hard to fill vacancies;• science staff indicate major concerns regarding workload, this ismoderate for maths staff;• science staff are least satisfied among subject staff with the qualityand quantity of resources available;• science staff indicate relatively low satisfaction with their job, formaths this is moderate;• science staff indicate relatively low levels of perceived morale intheir organisation, for maths staff this is moderate.88