Teachers- what is the staffing situation in your school?

[AndSoFinally]

I'm not talking about Covid absence, I'm talking about permanent staff.

DP is a teacher in a secondary school. His department is down 4 members of teaching staff and the SLT have said they won't be replaced. His class sizes are up to 34-36. There isn't enough seating in the classroom for all the pupils. Even the bottom set class is at 29, where they are usually capped at 18 pupils due to behavioural issues.

He has started looking for another job, but there aren't any being advertised in his specialty in the whole of South Wales! There are a couple of temp jobs but that's literally it.

Are your schools not replacing missing teachers? This seems like a far bigger issue than the covid issue which is already decimating the workforce.

I think we have some long-term vacancies in English and maths. I’m science and part time but have been asked to work more hours, as has the other p/t science teacher (I suspect that is to save on recruiting costs).
And we are ofsted outstanding, middle class, naice leafy suburb so I dread to think how bad it is in schools in more challenging circumstances.

We are pushing class sizes to 34 but bottom sets are still more like 25.

Sounds par for the course, then. DP is on his knees