Middle schools 'fail to make the grade'

Mar 3 2005 By Graeme Whitfield, The Journal

Teacher 'recruitment crisis' warning

A headteachers' leader has warned that schools in the North could face a recruitment crisis unless education bosses resolve uncertainty over a school closure programme.

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said the re-organisation of schools in Northumberland was in doubt because the major source of funding had been delayed until at least 2014.

Mr Hart said Northumberland County Council would not be able to fund its planned changes - which would see middle schools closed down and the county moving to a two-tier education system - until it got money from the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme.

In a letter to the council, Mr Hart said: "School leaders are already leaving the authority. There is a recruitment problem which will be exacerbated because teachers will not wish to come where there is long-term uncertainty, and those who are seeking senior positions will want to find those jobs elsewhere. It is crucial that your authority makes it clear where it is now going on reorganisation in the context of these latest developments."

The Journal revealed earlier this year that Northumberland's plans were facing long delays because the county was not due to get funding from Building Schools for the Future until 2014 at the earliest.

A spokesman for Northumberland County Council said: "All change creates uncertainty but everything is proceeding as we expected."