The crisis in teacher recruitment is well known but is there a perfect storm that is leading to a disaster for economics and business departments?
The recruitment crisis in Business and Economics
Record numbers of teahers are leaving the profession but the overall decline in the stock of teachers is more stark in economics and business than almost any other subject due to the lack of new entrants
Whilst most subjects are at least seeing an increase in new entrants, there is a decline in the amount of new teachers choosing to study economics and business. This year there have only been 155 students training to teach business and economics, leading to an overall 4% reduction in economics and business teachers.
At the same time demand for both subjects at GCSE, A Level and for vocational qualifications is increasing significantly, particularly with the revamped linear exams. This combination of increased demand and reduced supply for teachers is leading to an upcoming disaster for the subject.
As any (of the few remaining!) economcis teacher will tell you, the answer to excess demand would normally for wages to increase to the market clearing level, and in a sense the DFE is attempting this with an increased bursary for economics trainee teachers. However as well as school budget constraints, economics graduates have amongst the highest earning potential of any students so a modest salary increase is unlikely to act as a significant incentive given the alternatives.
Likely Impact
So if it doesn't look like there is going to be a significant increase in economics and business teachers any time soon what is the impact likely to be?
One impact is the subject being taught by non-specialists. Already, 31.5% of economics and business teachers do not have an undergraduate degree in the subject and this is likely to increase. Subject knowledge has the second highest impact on pupil outcomes (after instruction quality) and so this dilution of subect experts in the classroom is likely to have a detrmiental impact on pupil's progress.
One way round that comes from the mistaken belief that vocational subjects require less academic rigour than A Levels and so can be taught 'by anyone' Anybody who has taught the subject or studies the specification for BTEC qualifications will tell know what a nonsense that is but if the myth persists then it is bound to just further damage the reputation of vocational qualifications and the quality of pupils learning experiences in these qualifications.
It would also limit the opportunity for pupils to sit an Business A-Level. Already, there is a substantial number of schools who have stopped offering Business A Level qualifications.
This is particularly likely to be the case for economics where it is almost impossible to teach without extensive subject knowledge. More likely than non-specialists teaching the subject is that it will be dropped altogether. Economics is a subject that is under-represented in state schools as an option and it would be a tragedy if the option was removed altogether.
Economics illuminated the world around us and influences everyone, if they know it or not. As Keynes said:
The recruitment crisis in Business and Economics
Record numbers of teahers are leaving the profession but the overall decline in the stock of teachers is more stark in economics and business than almost any other subject due to the lack of new entrants
Whilst most subjects are at least seeing an increase in new entrants, there is a decline in the amount of new teachers choosing to study economics and business. This year there have only been 155 students training to teach business and economics, leading to an overall 4% reduction in economics and business teachers.
At the same time demand for both subjects at GCSE, A Level and for vocational qualifications is increasing significantly, particularly with the revamped linear exams. This combination of increased demand and reduced supply for teachers is leading to an upcoming disaster for the subject.
As any (of the few remaining!) economcis teacher will tell you, the answer to excess demand would normally for wages to increase to the market clearing level, and in a sense the DFE is attempting this with an increased bursary for economics trainee teachers. However as well as school budget constraints, economics graduates have amongst the highest earning potential of any students so a modest salary increase is unlikely to act as a significant incentive given the alternatives.
Likely Impact
So if it doesn't look like there is going to be a significant increase in economics and business teachers any time soon what is the impact likely to be?
One impact is the subject being taught by non-specialists. Already, 31.5% of economics and business teachers do not have an undergraduate degree in the subject and this is likely to increase. Subject knowledge has the second highest impact on pupil outcomes (after instruction quality) and so this dilution of subect experts in the classroom is likely to have a detrmiental impact on pupil's progress.
One way round that comes from the mistaken belief that vocational subjects require less academic rigour than A Levels and so can be taught 'by anyone' Anybody who has taught the subject or studies the specification for BTEC qualifications will tell know what a nonsense that is but if the myth persists then it is bound to just further damage the reputation of vocational qualifications and the quality of pupils learning experiences in these qualifications.
It would also limit the opportunity for pupils to sit an Business A-Level. Already, there is a substantial number of schools who have stopped offering Business A Level qualifications.
This is particularly likely to be the case for economics where it is almost impossible to teach without extensive subject knowledge. More likely than non-specialists teaching the subject is that it will be dropped altogether. Economics is a subject that is under-represented in state schools as an option and it would be a tragedy if the option was removed altogether.
Economics illuminated the world around us and influences everyone, if they know it or not. As Keynes said:
"Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist"It would be a tragedy if pupils weren't given this pleasure anymore.