**Wales Facing Alarming Shortfall in Secondary School Teachers, Experts Warn**
The ongoing shortage of secondary school teachers in Wales shows little sign of easing, education officials have cautioned, with alarming figures revealing that only a fraction of the required teaching workforce is being trained each year. Despite Welsh Government ambitions to recruit roughly 1,000 new secondary teachers annually, recent data demonstrates the sector is operating far below capacity.
According to the Education Workforce Council (EWC), only 369 teaching certificates were awarded for secondary education roles in August 2024, highlighting a persistent and significant gap in teacher recruitment. An additional 34 educators completed their training via the Open University pathway, but these numbers remain well below official targets. Particularly striking is the case of mathematics teachers: just 27 received certification last year, against a stated need for 130. The teaching of Welsh also faces a similar crisis, with only 20 trainees finishing their courses despite an official aim of recruiting between 80 and 90.
Hayden Llewellyn, chief executive at the EWC, addressed members of the Senedd’s education committee to emphasise the scale and persistence of the issue. He noted that the struggle to recruit secondary school teachers has only worsened over the past two decades, and although there was a brief improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has since backslid. “After monitoring the trends in recruitment and retention for many years, unfortunately, I see little indication of meaningful progress in secondary education,” Llewellyn commented.
While recruitment for subjects like physical education, history, and geography appears relatively robust, the EWC data reveals severe shortages in core fields such as maths, English, sciences, Welsh, and modern foreign languages. Worryingly, only three out of the 27 new maths teachers in 2024 were Welsh speakers, a statistic that underscores the particular difficulties of sustaining Welsh-medium education.
In comparison, over-recruitment is apparent at the primary school level, where annual hiring targets are currently being exceeded. Nevertheless, the emerging crisis across secondary education has prompted calls for significant policy changes to address the shortage. Eithne Hughes, chair of the Education Workforce Council, noted that, due to these shortages, some teachers are now expected to teach outside their specialisms—sometimes covering multiple unrelated subjects. This, she argues, places additional strain on already overburdened staff and risks undermining educational standards.
One proposed solution from the EWC is to consider adopting elements from Scotland’s approach, where teacher registration is linked directly to specific subjects or educational phases, preventing unqualified teaching and potentially raising standards. Llewellyn reflected: “In Scotland, you cannot teach a subject for which you are not specifically trained. That is a safeguard we could consider here in Wales.”
The recruitment of Welsh-speaking teachers remains a longstanding challenge, too. Statistics show that around 33% of teachers are Welsh speakers, a figure that, while higher than census data would suggest, has stagnated despite government initiatives. Among new trainees, only about 20% specialising in primary and 18% in secondary education are Welsh speakers—well below a target of 30%. Within specialist areas, these already modest figures drop even further.
Addressing the deeper causes of teacher shortages, both Hughes and Llewellyn pointed to several intertwined issues: unmanageable workloads, rising expectations, stagnating salaries, and increasing behavioural problems in the classroom. “The profession now often expects teachers to take on roles akin to social workers, police officers, or nurses, in addition to their teaching responsibilities,” Hughes remarked. Llewellyn added: “Given current pay, workload, and other pressures, attracting new talent to teaching is becoming ever more difficult—especially when starting salaries for bus drivers in Wales are now close to those for teachers.”
Teacher retention, too, remains a concern. According to Mr Llewellyn, roughly 2,400 teachers leave the EWC register each year. He warned, “Attrition is sustainable only if the number of new teachers matches those departing. The reality in Wales is that secondary and Welsh-medium recruitment simply do not keep pace with the losses.”
Experts suggest that unless root causes are directly addressed—rather than relying on short-term marketing efforts—the shortage will likely persist, with serious implications for the quality and availability of secondary education in Wales for years to come. The issue, they argue, extends far beyond recruitment, raising profound questions about the sustainability of the teaching profession itself.