Ofsted warned that supply issues would have a knock-on effect on the quality of children’s education, with pupils of mixed abilities increasingly lumped together into large classes.
It cautioned that dependence on temporary staff would affect the quality of relationships with children and see workloads catapult for remaining permanent staff. “We owe the current generation of young people as much security and certainty as we can provide for what remains of their childhood… To do that, it’s vital that education and social care providers are able to recruit, train and retain talented and capable people.”
Ofsted also raised concerns that pupil attendance is running “persistently” lower than before the pandemic, with Ms Spielman suggesting that lockdowns broke the “clear social contract” on children going to school daily.