Public schools lure state teachers

Independent schools are planning a national campaign to lure student teachers from the state sector.

The move follows complaints that the teacher shortage has spread to fee-paying schools. The Independent Schools Council wants to persuade newly qualified teachers to start their careers in independent, rather than state, schools. Dick Davison of the council said the first priority was to increase the pool of graduates coming into teaching. But the second aim was to address the "misinformation" that deterred many student teachers from applying to independent schools.

"Until the pool of teachers is extended, all schools are going to find it difficult to recruit staff," he said. "But there is still a degree of ignorance in teacher training institutions and that is something we plan to work to overcome."

Although few fee-paying schools had unfilled posts, more than half (55 per cent) of headteachers believed finding good-quality staff had become much harder over the past 12 months, a survey by the council found.