Schools find certain teaching roles nearly impossible to fill because the supply of qualified candidates simply doesn’t meet demand. Science, maths, and early years positions are among the worst affected. And without the right support in place, those gaps tend to linger.
That’s partly a supply issue. The way schools advertise, communicate, and handle contracts often puts candidates off before they’ve even applied. Most only figure that out after reposting the same vacancy twice.
Nearly two decades of placing teachers across London gives us a clear picture of where things tend to go wrong. It’s rarely one thing. This article covers the roles hardest to fill, what puts good candidates off, and what schools can do differently.
Let’s get into it.
The Teaching Jobs That Are Hardest to Fill
Not all vacancies work the same way, though. The latest school workforce statistics show that teachers make up less than half of all staff in state-funded schools in England. With the government pledging to recruit 6,500 more, certain roles are feeling that pressure more than others.
These are the ones schools find hardest to fill:
- Shortage Subject Specialists: Science teacher roles, alongside maths, performing arts, and design technology, consistently prove the hardest to staff. Too few graduates choose to teach these subjects, and the pipeline hasn’t kept up. Until it does, schools will keep competing for a very small pool of available candidates.
- Early Years and Primary Roles: Early years and primary school positions carry a heavy workload. The pay rarely matches that, which puts many candidates off long before they get as far as applying.
- Support and Fixed Term Roles: Schools rely on teaching assistants and fixed-term roles to plug curriculum gaps. But these posts consistently attract the fewest applicants. When those posts stay unfilled, the pressure lands directly on the teachers already in the classroom.
The hiring challenges behind each role include weak candidate pipelines, poor job adverts, and slow recruitment processes that cost schools strong candidates.
The Real Reasons Teacher Recruitment Keeps Falling Short
Teacher recruitment keeps falling short because schools can’t find enough candidates and are losing the ones they already have. Recruiting without fixing retention is like filling a leaking bucket.
Two things drive it, and both are fixable:
1. The Retention Side of Recruitment
We’ve placed teachers across London since 2006, and poor retention is consistently one of the first things schools raise with us. The teacher recruitment and retention data show that one in three new teachers leaves within five years.
And it’s not hard to see why. Heavy workloads and mismatched pay send good educators elsewhere. Each one who leaves takes years of classroom skills and hard-won training with them.
2. A Shrinking Candidate Pool
While one school tries to fill a vacancy, dozens of others across multi-academy trusts and academy networks are doing the same. Fewer graduates are choosing teaching across the education sector each year, so the candidate pool gets thinner.
By the time most head teachers are ready to make an offer, the strongest candidates have already accepted one elsewhere.
What Puts Good Candidates Off Applying
Most of the time, it comes down to three things: vague adverts, slow communication, and contracts that raise more questions than they answer.
- Vague Job Titles: Candidates want specifics. A listing that says “Teacher Required, competitive salary” tells them nothing useful, so most scroll straight past it. Spell out the actual salary, year group, and subject, and you’ll see more applications come in.
- Slow Communication: Good candidates rarely wait around. A school that takes two weeks to reply loses them to one that responds the same day. The hiring process itself is often the first real impression an institution makes.
- Unclear Contract Terms: Fixed-term and pro rata roles are fine. But when candidates can’t find the per-week hours or the contract length up front, they move on quickly. Clear terms from the start save everyone time.
Schools that get these three things right typically fill roles faster, receive stronger applications, and spend less time managing a drawn-out search process.
How Schools Can Attract Better Teaching Candidates
Attracting better candidates takes a clear advert, an honest picture of the school, and a hiring process that doesn’t lose people along the way. Institutions that nail all three spend far less time reposting the same roles.
In practice, it looks like this.
The Details Candidates Look For
Teachers want the basics up front. A vague advert loses them before they’ve finished reading it, so the actual salary, year group, curriculum, and teaching assistant structure all need to be there from the start.
And the research supports it. Schools that show visible educational leadership and teacher support in their adverts attract candidates who are looking for a similar environment.
How School Culture Affects Who Applies
Schools that talk openly about their team, their community, and how they support staff welfare give candidates something real to connect with.
For example, a school in Camden that started sharing staff stories in its job adverts saw a noticeable jump in applications within a single academic year. That kind of honesty draws in interested people.
When teachers talk, word gets around.
When Schools Take Too Long to Hire
A slow hiring process costs you good people. Once a strong candidate applies, respond quickly, be clear about next steps, and give honest feedback along the way. Your students deserve committed teachers who drive educational excellence.
In short, good hiring and good retention tend to go hand in hand, and the best teachers stay where they feel valued.
How Education Recruitment Agencies Help
Most institutions struggle because running a proper search on top of everything else takes time and resources they don’t always have. A good education recruitment agency takes the whole process off the school’s hands, handling sourcing, screening, and shortlisting.
Take a look at how the two approaches compare:
Factor | Agency Recruitment | In-House Recruitment |
Time to Fill | Typically, within two weeks | Four to six weeks on average |
Candidate Pool | Pre-screened and vetted | Open applications, unfiltered |
Admin Load | Handled by a dedicated team | Falls on school staff |
Cost of a Bad Hire | Reduced through thorough screening | Higher risk without vetting |
Schools that work closely with a good consultant benefit from market knowledge that most institutions don’t have in-house. They know which roles are attracting applications right now, what salary ranges are working, and where strong candidates are actively looking.
For academies and colleges juggling several searches at once, that kind of insight cuts out a lot of guesswork.
Ready to Find Your Next Teaching Role?
Certain teaching roles sit empty for weeks, sometimes entire terms, and the pressure falls on everyone already in the building. It doesn’t have to stay that way. Schools that address the right things, in the right order, do see results.
At OTJR Online, we’ve spent nearly two decades placing teachers into primary, secondary, sixth form, and higher education settings across London.
Browse jobs, register with us today for free resources, and our committed team will guide you through every step you need to find your next great hire.