THE quality of education in Bradford is worsening because schools are trying to "keep it cheap", claims a teaching union rep.

Department for Education figures show there were 5,444 teachers working at the 210 state-funded schools in Bradford as of November. This was down from 5,461 the year before.

Yet across England, the school workforce has increased “marginally” by around 300 teachers to 468,700. This includes some teachers without qualified teacher status.

The figures show around 44,000 qualified teachers joined the school workforce, down 3,900 from the number of joiners the year before. Meanwhile, 43,500 qualified teachers left the state school sector.

Classroom teachers’ median pay in Bradford saw an increase of six per cent since 2022, reaching £41,300.

However, this was less than the average for England, which was £43,800.

There is a teacher "recruitment and retainment crisis" in Bradford schools. Picture: PATom Bright, Bradford branch secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), reasoned why he thinks pay is still not where it should - which in turn is creating a "recruitment and retainment" crisis.

He adds the starting salary for a teacher in the city is £30,000 and this would gradually increase over a 10-year period to finally end up at the upper pay scale of £48,000.

Mr Bright said: "It is a reflection of schools trying to suppress wages by having less qualified teachers.

"You get the young ones in, your burn them out, they leave, and the overall cost for the organisation is less than the cost for having quality teachers who have been there longer.

"Across the country, the average length of service per teacher, therefore the higher wage, is greater than in Bradford. In Bradford, they are focussing on keeping it cheap.

"If you are doing that, what happens to the standard of education for the kids? There is a self proclaiming prophecy of badness.

"If you take in a newly-qualified teacher and at the end of the year say 'sorry we can't keep you because we can't afford to give you a pay rise, we have to get rid of you, so we can get a another newly qualified teacher in', that depresses the overall costs.

"But what does it do to the quality of education? It is a Bradford problem that will not be solved without acknowledging quality costs.

"£2k a year may not sound a lot in terms of the difference but that is the average across all of the teachers.

"That equates to if every teacher in Bradford had one more year of experience, that is how that cost would vary."

It comes as teacher vacancies in state schools in England have more than doubled in the past three years, reaching an all-time high of 2,800 in November.

In Bradford schools, 129 teaching roles needed to be filled – up from 26 the year before. Of these, 81 were for classroom teachers.

There were also 81 positions that were temporarily filled.

Back in 2017, Bradford for Teaching was launched by the council in an attempt to increase recruitment.

Mr Bright explained why he feels the industry is struggling to attract and retain teachers.

He said: "The recruitment and retainment crisis is getting worse.

"People are leaving the profession and fewer people are entering the profession because of the stresses and strains of teaching.

"You can ask any school and they will tell you they are struggling to recruit. There is a bit of a mad scramble going on now to secure staff ready for September.

"I heard the other day, that there were more qualified teachers not teaching than teaching.

"People are doing the qualification, going into schools, and they are not finding it the rewarding career they were expecting."

He added: "If my degree is in Geography, I am still better off working in junior management in Marks & Spencer than I am going into education with all the stresses and strains that places on you."

The DfE said: “The number of teachers entering and leaving service both fell though the number of entrants continues to be higher than for leavers.

“This, combined with changes in working patterns and an increase in unqualified teachers, resulted in a marginal increase to the number of teachers in England."

When approached by the Telegraph & Argus, Bradford Council did not wish to comment.