The Times Educational Supplement says head teachers have had to make redundancies and can't afford to replace teachers who've left their jobs.

The government has dismissed the survey, saying that not enough schools were questioned to make it representative (480 head teachers were polled).

Instead, the government blames the cuts on falling pupil numbers, rather than budget shortages of up to �500,000 suffered by many schools.

Is there a teacher shortage in your school? Do schools deserve more money?

The following comments reflect the balance of views we have received:

This debate is now closed. Read your comments below.

Your reaction:

It wouldn't do harm for teachers to take a pay freeze. There are numerous teachers where I live, in a commuter belt village, with their expensive houses, brand new cars and umpteen holidays per year - and they make us think they're low paid?
Brian, Lancashire, UK

The government should be forced to publish the numbers of real teachers at the "chalk face" versus the numbers of administrators, advisors, co-ordinators, special projects, planners(!) and various other money wasters employed in all the various departments that are associated with education. Then we see where all the money goes. This problem isn't one of lack of money, its one of wasted money.
John R Smith, UK

I work for an inner London borough which currently has an education 'hiring freeze'. This has been in operation for at least six months now and has meant that all support service staff have to be hired on a supply basis, with payments to agencies which must have exceeded the cost of hiring staff on a termly or permanent basis. Central and local government need to get a grip on the situation if they are to convince us that they have the best interests of our children at heart.
Anon, London, UK

They do nothing to retain experienced teachers Duncan, UK

The government makes a big deal of getting new teachers into the system but they do nothing to retain experienced teachers. Why? Because new recruits are cheaper to employ, you can get two new recruits for the same salary as a very experienced teacher. This government doesn't care about the welfare of our children. If they did they would want continuity in the education system, not the cheapest option.
Duncan, UK

We are supposed to be the fourth richest economy in the world and yet we still can't value education. Where does it say that falling pupil numbers means that you have to lose a teacher? Maybe you could have smaller class sizes? We have 39 in our year 5/6 class next year. How are we supposed to provide all of them with a decent quality education?
Robin Duckworth, UK

My wife is a classroom assistant who has recently had to undertake a lot of training though she gets very low pay. The fact is that there are too few teachers and cash is not reaching the schools. The Government will say that according to their statistics they have the right number of teachers for the future but that is not now.
Tony, Welling, Kent

Everyone seems to harp on about lack of teachers, and in particular the chaos that this will cause in the future... I find it hard to believe that the number of teachers will persist in being a problem going forward because so many people seem to be signing up for teacher training! Loads of my mates are doing it... I wouldn't have the patience myself!
Stu, UK

Yes there is a shortage in the school I work in. Every year we are a few teachers down and we have to rely on long term supply which is more costly. We are in the red by nearly �400,000 and its all due to staff wages. The government needs to put more money into the schools where it matters.
Chris Ashbey, UK

Take all the money and give it to the schools John R Smith, UK

Get "Big Government" off the backs of the schools!! Take all the money spent on the Dept of Education, the LEAs, all various funding committees and talking shops and give it to the schools. Let the headteachers pay whatever they feel is right to get the staff they need and the facilities to go with them. Once pay is up to professional standards the right numbers of high quality recruits will follow. The current system is a money wasting failure.
John R Smith, UK

For years the teaching unions lobbied for changes in the way that teachers were treated, they wanted to be paid for every 'extra' carried out, supervision of mealtimes, playtimes, etc. Now that teachers are being treated as the hourly paid workers they wished to become everyone is surprised.
Barry p, England

The Times research is probably correct. In which case, the economic state of the country worries me even more. If we can't competitively prepare our future workers for the global economy, then where does that leave the UK in the future?
David Boiardi, UK

You have to be a masochist to become a teacher these days Vish, UK

Of course there is. Let's face it, you have to be a masochist to become a teacher these days. Low pay, unruly kids, even more unruly parents, everyone tries to blame the world's ills on you and no matter how hard you work people are still not happy. I have the utmost respect for all teachers in this country but I do encourage every single last one of them to stick two fingers up to the government and to the public who give them such a hard time and get higher paid jobs in the private sector.
Vish, UK

Surely the reason why schools have less money is the soaring cost of maintaining the extremely expensive teachers' final salary pension scheme? A firefighter friend told me that the fire service have the same problem - the pension scheme costs so much to run that many brigades can't afford to buy new vehicles.
Helen, England

I believe that like other public establishments like hospitals the money is there but it is where it is being spent that is the issue. When I was in secondary school they were always advertising the fact they had purchased several new computers - but us kids never saw them as they were for the school office. Staff rooms would be improved but the classrooms would be falling down around our ears.
Sarah, UK

Sarah, UK...you have no idea of the poor conditions teachers work under. Half the time, kids only have resources in the classroom because teachers buy them themselves. My wife spent �40 on teaching resource books yesterday and she's not paid a salary which justifies that kind of personal expense. Be grateful of what you received and don't assume it comes from thin air.
Ian Bartlett, UK

The school does not expect to be able to afford to keep me on if the funding levels are not increased next year Philip Edwards, England

Having worked as a supply teacher for a few years, I decided to get a full time post this year. In Somerset, it has been very difficult for many teachers to find posts, as there are few positions available - many schools simply cannot afford to replace teachers they are losing. I have managed to get a job - but it's only a one year contract and the school does not expect to be able to afford to keep me on if the funding levels are not increased next year. If I go, that would mean class sizes of at least 36 next year.

Whilst working on supply, I have been in staff meetings where heads have told their staff they were facing shortfalls of upwards of �250,000; and job cuts were to be expected. I know of no head teachers who can comfortably afford to increase classroom assistant levels, as they are supposed to under the new 'workforce agreement' There is no doubt in my mind that schools have not received anywhere near enough money to run effectively this year.
Philip Edwards, England

I believe the Government is pumping money in at the top, and I believe the schools when they say they do not have enough. Somewhere in between there is a big black hole, it costs the taxpayer billions, and our children pay for it with a poorer education. It is about time that all schools were funded directly and LEA's removed from the picture. I have every confidence that schools could be trusted far more than the LEA's to use their budget wisely. Too much politicising of education happens at council level, and too much waste of precious resource.
Pete, UK

Speaking as an ex-teacher, there's another factor that hasn't been mentioned here ie people just don't want to be teachers any more. It's become a low-paid, low-status job. To make matters worse, the pupils have absolutely no respect whatsoever for you. On the contrary, they treat you with contempt and there's nothing you can do about it. The parents give you no support and just try to undermine your position still further. I got out of the teaching profession years ago, trebled my salary and have never looked back. Wild horses wouldn't drag me back to teaching in the state sector!
Anon (ex-teacher), UK

My redundancy took place because of budget shortfall coupled with falling pupil number Cath Rhodes, UK

I am a teacher who has been made redundant, however I taught in a primary school. I know that in the city where I work there have been at least 45 redundancies, but most of those teachers have been redeployed into alternative teaching posts within the city. My redundancy took place because of budget shortfall coupled with falling pupil numbers. The school I taught in will also have a budget shortfall at the end of the new academic year, so redundancy may happen again. Schools definitely deserve much more money than they are allocated.
Cath Rhodes, UK

Its not a funding crisis that causes the teachers to go, its the inability to teach the kids that makes them go. Lack of cash covers this up nicely. I have a few teacher friends and they are totally disheartened by having to teach kids who know that they can't be disciplined for bad behaviour because they 'know their rights' and take advantage of it.
Steve G, UK

Either we want to educate our children or we don't - it's as simple as that and heaven help us if we choose the latter! The government should try for once being honest about how much extra money is really available for schools. Whatever extra money it has put into education the chancellor has ensured that his NI increases for employer and employee have ensured a vast chunk of the additional money is immediately going back to the treasury.
John, UK

My mother and sister are teachers, my neighbour is a teacher, 2 of my housemates are training to be teachers (or soon will be), 2 of my friends now want to be teachers. If there is a shortage, it has nothing to do with people not wanting to do it. It must be down to the Government not giving schools enough money to be able to afford to pay them to teach.
JJ, UK