Written question WQ89807

Teacher vacancies data are collected as part of the School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC) School return. Schools record and update data on the workforce throughout the year in their Management Information System (MIS) software. The SWAC is an electronic collection of individual level data on the school workforce in local authority-maintained settings in Wales undertaken in November of each year.

Teacher vacancies data covers all vacancies in the academic year preceding the SWAC census date. Data is provided for each teacher post advertised that is permanent or a contract of one or more terms and collects information on the role and subject (if applicable) of the vacant post as well as the number of applications received and if the post was filled.

A link to published data on StatsWales is available here: Teacher posts advertised, applications received, and appointments made by subject (gov.wales)

Data on teacher vacancies prior to 2021 was collected as part of the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) and is published on StatsWales at Teacher recruitment and retention (gov.wales). Information on teacher vacancies will only be collected through SWAC in future.

The teacher vacancies data are considered alongside the Teacher Planning Supply Model (TPSM) in setting allocations for Initial Teacher education (ITE) programmes. The information on teacher vacancies from the SWAC is used to identify potential areas of staff shortage in the teaching profession and to gauge the extent and effect of staff turnover.