§ Baroness Davidasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the latest available figures for teacher shortages in (a) primary (b) secondary schools in the following subjects: mathematics, craft, design, technology, physics, chemistry, biology, religious education, modern languages and English.
§ Viscount DavidsonInformation held centrally relating to teacher shortages consists of annual counts of vacancies in primary and secondary schools maintained by local authorities in England and Wales. (Similar information is not available for Scotland or Northern Ireland).
For primary schools the data is not broken down by subject specialism. The following table gives vacancies and the percentages that they represent of teachers in service for January 1988, the latest date for which data is available. Percentages by subject specialism are estimated.
Number of vacancies (full-time permanent posts only) Percentage of all full-lime teachers in post Primary schools (including nursery and middle deemed primary schools) 2,544 1.5 Secondary schools (including middle deemed secondary schools) 2,086 1.0 of which, number in: mathematics 211 0.9 craft, design and technology 111 0.9 physics 62 0.9 chemistry 46 0.8 biology 60 0.8 religious education 56 1.0 modern languages 164 1.0 English 218 0.9