SCHOOLS in Swindon are suffering from a serious recruitment crisis, according to a teaching union.

It is claimed that newly qualified teachers are abandoning their careers due to squeezed pay and an excessively high workload.

Pete Smith, the Swindon representative of the National Union Of Teachers, the country’s largest teaching union, said: “Teachers in Swindon face the problems faced by teachers nationally.

“Many newly qualified teachers in particular find it is not the profession they thought it would be.

“Many people train to become part of the profession, relishing the challenge of working to make a difference for young people.

“Instead they find squeezed pay and very long hours of work each evening and weekend.”

It comes after news that nationally 30 per cent of teachers who qualified in 2010 had quit by 2015.

Pete thinks one of the main reasons for the exodus is the Government’s heavy reliance on exams as a means to monitor student progress.

He said: “On top of all this come the pressures from high stakes testing.

“A routine of tests, which most teachers believe put undue pressure on young children, have no educational value and can even be counterproductive, remove much of the satisfaction in the job.

“Swindon schools have the additional problem of an even lower level of funding than most of the rest of the country, so here, too, we see the recruitment and retention crisis reported nationally.”

The NUT’s south west regional secretary, Andy Woolley, said: “It is deeply regrettable that so many people have chosen to leave teaching when we need new teachers more than ever.

“Despite high demand, there has been a consistent shortfall in the numbers recruited to training courses since 2010.”

He called on the Government to re-examine its stance towards the profession and take action.