Pupils facing four-day week because of teacher shortage

One of the country's biggest education authorities has warned that pupils face a four-day week and that subjects could be dropped from the curriculum because it is short of nearly 600 teachers for next term.

The warning, in a letter from Paul Gray, director of education for Surrey, to parents of children at the county's 450 state schools, is the starkest yet of the staffing crisis facing schools from September. He says: "I do not want to be alarmist but I do want to be open and realistic. The situation in this year is the worst I have ever experienced. It may be necessary to make changes in the way classes are organised, the number of subjects offered and even the length of the school day."

He adds that it would be "unrealistic" to expect all posts to be filled by the start of the new school year. "Next year is going to be a challenging one for us all and I ask you for your understanding and forbearance in any action your headteacher and governors may need to take," Mr Gray says.

In a separate letter to headteachers, he says that an audit of schools showed they still have 487 full-time and 100 part-time posts unfilled for the start of the autumn term. The highest number of secondary school vacancies is for teachers in the core subjects of English, maths and science. There are 38 science posts unfilled, 31 in maths and 28 in English.

Mr Gray's letter has been seized on by teachers' leaders as further evidence of a recruitment crisis in state schools. Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "This audit of vacancies supports everything we have said ... These are not the warnings of a person who is scaremongering. He knows the depth of the crisis ... Now it is the children who will suffer."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "Surrey County Council have told us their schools are continuing to fill

vacancies and they expect them to continue to do so. There are teachers still on the market applying for jobs. It is wildly premature to talk about reduced hours."