Education Support, in partnership with Public First, recently published its final report of the Commission on Teacher Retention, 1970s working conditions in the 2020s: Modernising the professional lives of teachers for the 21st century. There are no prizes for guessing why such a commission on teacher retention was needed. Morale in the teaching profession is low, just about as low as it can go in some areas, and placing the subsequent issues around the retention of teachers firmly into view was long overdue.
The report of the Commission on teacher retention brings together qualitative, quantitative, and immersive research, and includes expert and teacher testimony. It makes an incredibly sobering read. One finding that is particularly shocking, yet possibly not surprising, is that 78% of teachers said they would be likely to leave the profession if offered a job in another sector that promised a better work-life balance. This need for a greater sense of balance in the lives of teachers polled higher than the desire for higher pay. A damning reflection of the plight of teachers today.
In addition, more than 20 per cent of secondary school teachers said they are unlikely to be in the profession in five years’ time. That is a phenomenal figure, and one that should ring all the alarm bells if we wish our children to be taught by well-qualified, well-supported teachers, as is the fact that 31 per cent of teachers described their work-life balance as being either bad or very bad. How, or rather why, have we allowed things to get so bad?
What next?
The Teacher Retention Commission made ten recommendations in their report, including the call for an independent review of the pay and conditions of teaching, to include the pay structure and contracted hours.
The Commission is also calling for new teacher retention targets as a way of holding the Department for Education accountable for teacher retention, and a formal review of school accountability including the function of Ofsted with a view to looking specifically at the pressure that this process of inspection is putting on teachers.
Other recommendations include codification of what “poor practice” around workload looks like on the Department for Education’s website, and school leaders committing to reviewing their own workload practices on a yearly basis.
Perhaps most significantly, the Commission has called for “a national conversation about the significant shift in behaviour as well as the increase in emotional and mental health needs among children and young people.” The Commission felt that the pressure these needs place on teachers is unsustainable and “goes beyond their professional expertise.”
While talk of a profession in crisis appears to be stating the obvious, other recent news may give us cause for optimism. A research review by the Education Endowment Foundation, Teacher quality, recruitment, and retention, conducted by researchers from the UCL Institute of Education led by Dr Becky Taylor, points to some possible strategies for school leaders to employ to help address issues around the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention. Not surprisingly, heavy workloads are associated with poorer retention of teachers while actively reducing workloads is linked with increasing retention.
Working conditions were also featured in the research review, including the ways in which duties are allocated, the length of the contracted day, leave entitlement and so on. These conditions can have a more significant impact on retention than salary. Looking after staff will never cease to be a crucially important aspect of running a healthy, functioning school.
Another take home feature of the research review is that allowing teachers to participate in professional collaborations helps teachers to feel part of a learning community, and subsequently supports retention, as does professional development and access to higher education.
It is well worth taking a look at these research documents for the insights they hold. We really seem to be at a crisis point with regard to the retention of staff in schools and while most in the profession would agree, as a nation we must not continue to rely on the good will and passion of those willing to take on the role of “teacher” without giving utmost regard to their wellbeing in the job. Finding the job rewarding, as more than three-quarters of teachers say they do, will not cut it in the long run unless we address why so many are either leaving the profession, or plan to leave in the foreseeable future. As Evelyn Forde MBE writes in her introduction to 1970s working conditions in the 2020s: Modernising the professional lives of teachers for the 21st century, “Fear of not ‘doing things as they have always been done’ and following the recipe for a good Ofsted rating have become the focus in education.” What really matters now is teacher retention, and it is the system, rather than humans trying to function in it, that must give.
Find out more…
- 1970s-working-conditions-in-the-2020s.pdf (educationsupport.org.uk)
- Teacher-quality-recruitment-and-retention-lit-review-Final.pdf (d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net)
- parliament.uk/writtenevidence/120311/pdf/
About the author
Elizabeth Holmes
After graduating with a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading, Elizabeth Holmes completed her PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of London. She then taught humanities and social sciences in schools in London, Oxfordshire and West Sussex, where she ran the history department in a challenging comprehensive. Elizabeth specialises in education but also writes on many other issues and themes. As well as her regular blogs for Eteach and FEjobs, her books have been published by a variety of publishers and translated around the world. Elizabeth has also taught on education courses in HE and presented at national and international conferences.