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Supply teachers are being brought in from the UK to plug staff shortages in Jersey schools, in what has emerged as a further sign of the recruitment crisis affecting frontline public services.
Teaching union representative Marina Mauger from NASUWT said she was aware that many teachers from UK agencies worked in Jersey.
She said: ‘We hardly have any supply teachers. Those who are available are fully committed, and so we need to bring in people so that children’s education does not suffer, especially in exam subjects.’
Ms Mauger said the situation was the latest product of a challenge the island was facing when it came to recruiting staff.
‘We’re in a total crisis with the cost of living and we’re not offering salaries that will attract full-time workers to come here,’ she said.
The high cost of housing is one factor cited as a disincentive to potential recruits. It is understood that temporary supply teachers in the island are currently being accommodated in hotels and meeting their transport costs.
The JEP has asked the government how many supply teachers from the UK are working in Jersey, the number of schools affected and the cost but did not receive a reply at the time of going to print.
Earlier in the autumn, teaching unions warned that the lack of cover could leave teachers facing classroom sizes of up to 40 pupils – well above the island’s average size of 28 in both primary and secondary schools.
Recruitment challenges have become a dominant theme on the island’s news agenda in recent months, with almost no sector immune to the impact of rising house prices and the cost of living.
These factors have made it difficult to attract new recruits, as well as causing some current staff to leave the island. The Jersey Care Commission warned this week that a shortage of care workers was creating ‘potentially catastrophic’ risks, with health and social care also badly affected.
A lack of capacity in care homes has led to bed-blocking at the General Hospital, which itself has faced bills of more than £6 million this year for agency doctors.
GP surgeries have also suffered, with most of the Island’s 13 surgeries closed or restricted to new patients and reports of long waiting times.
Family doctors have also expressed concern that high vacancy levels have forced some surgeries to close or restrict waiting lists, an issue the Social Security Minister is trying to address.
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