A new report has found over 300 secondary school teacher vacancies across all GCSE subject areas in England, as more than a quarter of students failed to achieve a passing grade in the 2023-2024 exam period.
The research, as part of the ‘Resit Reality’ Report created by education software specialist Access Education, analysed Ofqual data for GCSE grades achieved in 2024 to identify the pass rate of each subject. This was then compared against government data that identified which region and subject has the highest teacher vacancies.
The report found that 25% of students will be required to resit their English and Maths GCSEs this year, with the number of students failing to achieve a passing grade of 4 and above climbing by 26% and 14% respectively over the last three years.
Data from GCSEPod, based on over 80,000 GCSE students answering over six million GCSE questions, revealed that two-thirds of students struggled to recall and correctly apply key maths formulas, while 69.1% of students found it challenging to correctly use apostrophes and quotation marks in their English Language exams.
The rise in resit figures coincides with the teacher shortage crisis in the education sector, which has more than doubled since 2022. This comes as teachers are now required to spend a minimum of three to four hours per week with students resitting Maths and English, or else schools risk funding being cut following government amendments to the 2024-2025 academic year and beyond.
Across England, the research revealed that Combined Science and English had the lowest subject pass rates and the highest number of teacher vacancies, while 59 vacancies were reported for full-time secondary school Maths teachers.
With pupil-to-teacher ratios rising across the board, this may see students not receive the required time when preparing for resit exams as teachers do not have the available time on top of existing workloads.
By identifying a correlation between the subjects that require resits and where there are the most teacher vacancies, more time and attention could be invested in pinpointing exactly where support is needed, such as improved training and better support processes.
Utilising software which helps provide GCSE content to the students can relieve pressure from teachers and result in a decrease in the number of resits needed to be taken in both compulsory and non-compulsory subjects.
On the report’s findings, Mandy Coalter, Founder of Talent Architects, said:
“There is no question that vacancies impact education quality for pupils, however, schools do work really hard to find innovative ways of mitigating this. There is a job for the Government to do to tackle teacher supply nationally, raising the status of the profession and tackling pay and we are seeing steps on this.
“However, all the evidence tells us that it is the leadership dynamics within the school itself that impact staff retention. This means schools have a vested interest in becoming great places to work so people choose to stay. That includes developing leaders to be great leaders of people; supporting staff professional development and offering a more flexible working environment.”
“One of the benefits of a great place to work is that your current staff will recommend you to others and most potential teachers and employees will be local to your school. Schools can take a number of steps to improve their recruitment and talent management strategies. Working with teaching school hubs they can ensure new teacher supply and early career development as well as access to NPQs and development.”
Emma Slater, Head of Product at The Access Group, added:
“The rise in the number of students needing to resit compulsory subjects highlights just how important teacher-student relationships and readily accessible resources are. It is clear that schools and external bodies also need to recognise that many teachers are overwhelmed with the number of students that need support, alongside their new GCSE students.
“The stress and pressure to meet both funding conditions and academic targets are contributing to a concerningly higher turnover rate, with more educators exiting the sector altogether each year. Our ‘Resit Reality Report’ has pinpointed the subjects students struggle most with in this year’s exams, and where the gaps in the education sector lie, offering teachers and schools the insights needed to provide dedicated support for those who need to resit this academic year.
“We strongly encourage that education institutes look to introduce solutions, like GCSEPod, to better support staff workloads, meet performance expectations, and hopefully attract new teachers to address the increasing number of vacancies across the country. In doing so, schools can not only improve grade outcomes but also create a more sustainable and supportive working environment for their teachers.”
