A national shortfall of degree-trained teachers in Welsh, maths and the sciences is forcing schools to rely on non-specialists, affecting lesson quality and students’ future choices
Wales’s schools are feeling the strain as an increasing number of secondary classes are led by teachers who haven’t been trained in the subjects they’re asked to teach. Inspectors, unions and professional bodies warn that shortages of specialist teachers — most noticeably in Welsh, maths and the sciences — are narrowing pupils’ choices and risking weaker outcomes.
What classrooms are actually like
Multiple sources — Estyn, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, the Institute of Physics and the Education Workforce Council Wales — point to widespread gaps in specialist science provision. A Royal Society of Chemistry survey found 71% of respondents saying shortages in biology, chemistry and physics harm student learning.
The scale is striking: in 2026 Wales had 174 teachers trained in physics while there were 205 secondary schools, a gap that means some pupils simply cannot access a specialist physics teacher.
How schools respond depends a lot on leadership.
Where heads and senior teams are proactive, non-specialist teachers receive structured mentoring, targeted professional development and time for collaborative planning. That support can preserve teaching quality and keep the curriculum broad. In other schools, however, inspectors and unions report hurriedly patched lessons, reduced practical work or vague “combined science” units that blur important distinctions between disciplines. Those stop-gap measures tend to shallow students’ understanding and weaken the consistency of hands-on experiments — both vital for pupils aiming to study sciences further.
Effects on pupils and the future workforce
The consequences are not just short-term. Senior leaders told the Senedd inquiry that degree-qualified specialists are often prioritised for exam classes, leaving younger year groups to the less experienced. Cardiff Metropolitan University warns this can sap motivation early on, reducing take-up of subjects later and narrowing the pipeline into post-16 study and university.
Welsh-medium schools face extra pressure: a smaller pool of teachers fluent enough to teach through Welsh makes vacancies harder to fill and reduces flexibility. Local government and education directors also highlight a socioeconomic dimension: schools in lower-income areas, where staff turnover is higher, are most vulnerable — a dynamic that risks widening existing attainment gaps.
What’s being tried so far
A range of short-, medium- and long-term measures has been proposed. Ideas include accelerated specialist training routes, targeted incentives to recruit into Welsh-medium posts, and ring-fenced funding for practical science equipment and lessons. Headteachers have suggested practical incentives such as tuition-fee repayment in exchange for multi-year commitments, reduced workload or more flexible hours to retain early-career teachers, and financial bonuses for key subjects.
Yet recruitment on its own won’t fix the problem. Training providers stress that retention measures and stronger in-school support are crucial so that experienced teachers stay and can mentor the next generation.
Changing who trains and how schools operate
Shortages are already reshaping entry into teacher training and how schools deploy staff. Estyn and school leaders note that, as gaps widen, candidates who might previously have been judged borderline are more likely to enter teacher training; they then need considerable in-school support. Schools facing persistent vacancies often redeploy primary specialists at key stage 3, retrain existing staff, or shuffle timetables — practical responses, but ones that trade depth and continuity for coverage.
Government action and limits
The Welsh Government says it runs financial incentives for priority subjects and reviews them annually. Officials are looking at teacher training policies while acknowledging tight budgets. Proposed operational steps include strengthening induction mentoring, ring-fencing funded posts in high-need areas, and tracking trainee progression with clearer milestones.
What should happen next
There’s no quick fix. But a coherent blend of immediate support (mentoring, practical funding, targeted incentives) and longer-term strategies (expanded specialist training routes, retention packages, Welsh-medium recruitment drives) could stabilise provision and rebuild the pipeline into higher-level study. Above all, the solutions that stick will be those that combine recruitment with sustained in-school support so specialist knowledge can be grown and passed on, rather than constantly plugged in from outside.
