This NFER research investigates the extent to which teacher attrition rates differ between England and Wales. It finds the retention rate among secondary school teachers is higher in Wales, but it is the reverse for primary school teachers.
The study, conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, aims to test the hypothesis that teacher retention rates are higher in Wales than in England as a result of the different education policy approaches taken. However, the research suggests that the different approaches to education policymaking taken in England and Wales since devolution do not appear to be associated with a significant uniform effect on teacher retention rates.
According to the analysis, the leaving rate among secondary school classroom teachers is 0.6 percentage points higher in England compared to in Wales, while among primary school classroom teachers, there is a difference of 0.6 percentage points in leaving rates with a lower leaving rate in England.
Twenty years of devolved education policymaking in Wales has led to a significant divergence in approaches to policy in England and Wales. This approach in Wales has been characterised by academics as being more supportive of the teaching profession, especially on curriculum development and the use of school accountability.
The study compares the retention rates of teachers in Wales with the retention rates of teachers in schools in areas of England that have similar economic and contextual characteristics to Wales, such as unemployment rates, wage levels outside of teaching and levels of pupil disadvantage.