Essex faces a critical shortage of teachers over the next three years, county National Union of Teachers general secretary Jerry Glazier has warned.
His comments follow this week's announcement by the General Teaching Council (GTC) that a third of all teachers plan to throw in the towel in the next five years.
The poll was carried out by MORI for the GTC and the Guardian newspaper, with more than 70,000 asked for their opinion on morale.
More than half said that their morale was lower than when they joined the profession, and more than a third said that they did not envisage themselves still teaching at the end of the next five years, although half of these would be retiring.
Mr Glazier said: "I'm not surprised by the report and the prognosis is not good. It will be even worse in 2006 as, in Essex, we have an ageing population of teachers due to retire. It is a depressing picture.
"The Government needed to act swiftly to reduce teacher workload, he said. "Teachers still spend more time outside the classroom on administrative work than inside.
"The union has already identified that workload and pupil behaviour are teachers' biggest reasons for low morale," said Mr Glazier.
Dr Chris Nicholls, head teacher at Moulsham High school, said: "Teaching is in a morale dip at the moment and it would be a mistake to ignore that. I don't think teachers feel very good about their roles. It's not simple overload, but about being over-scrutinised and over-accountable.
"But I think it is very positive that two thirds of us are saying 'I want to carry on.'"
Dr Nicholls said that change could be only weeks away as a national agreement has been tabled by the Department of Education and Skills workforce remodelling group, of which he is a member.
An Essex County Council spokesman said that the council was actively looking at ways of improving teacher recruitment and retention.
It is currently involved in a project looking at how to reduce teacher workloads. This included job share, flexible working patterns and greater use of teaching assistants.
Published Friday, January 10, 2003
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