A teachers' body is warning of a recruitment crisis

In a new report, the General Teaching Council for Wales says a recruitment drive is needed to avoid future problems with teacher shortages.

The council has made 65 recommendations, including the introduction of more family-friendly hours and action to deal with pupil misbehaviour, which, it claims, deters many people from becoming teachers.

A third of all teachers and two thirds of headteachers in Wales will reach retirement age in the next 10 years, meaning 11,000 new staff are needed to replace them.

But the council says that the perception of teaching as a profession with a high workload and problems with pupil discipline put many potential recruits off a career in the classroom.

Paul Rees has retrained as a maths teacher

The problem is particularly bad in physics, maths and Welsh teaching, while a severe shortage of male teachers in primary schools means men now account for just 17% of staff in that sector.

To combat the potential recruitment crisis, the council says it wants to see a change in the kind of people coming into the profession.

The report says that more minority groups and older recruits should be encouraged into teaching.

The council added that teaching should offer more flexibility and childcare support for parents returning to the classroom.

'Real buzz'

One new recruit to teaching from another profession is maths teacher Paul Rees, who has this week begun his new job at Whitchurch High School, in Cardiff.

A year ago, he was a manufacturing manager for an IT firm before training as a maths teacher - a subject in which there is a shortage of teachers.

"The discipline has been far better than I had expected in school," he said.

"It's really nice teaching kids, getting them to learn things and, when they understand something, that gives you a real thrill and a real buzz."

Falling birthrate

The General Teaching Council for Wales' recruitment call comes against a backdrop of teacher redundancies in Welsh schools.

In July, it was announced that more than 200 teaching jobs would be lost by the end of the year.

Figures from the 22 Welsh local authorities showed that 246 teachers would either be made redundant, take voluntary redundancy or accept early retirement packages.

One of the reasons given for the cuts was the falling birthrate in Wales.

About 75% of school funding is determined by the number of children attending schools, and a reduction in pupils brings a cut in the number of teachers.

But, in its report, the General Teaching Council for Wales said that the projected fall in the Welsh birth rate should be used as a "major opportunity" to reduce class sizes by maintaining teacher numbers at their current level.