Schools will be more than aware that challenges around teacher retention have significantly intensified following the Covid-19 pandemic. This NFER report outlines key findings and recommendations for policy makers. It also sets out evidence-informed, practical actions that school leaders may wish to consider to relieve workforce pressures.
Registrations to ITT courses last year fell by 20 per cent compared to the year before the pandemic. Both primary and secondary ITT registrations were below target, with 13 out of 17 secondary subjects under-recruiting relative to the estimated numbers of trainees needed to ensure sufficient staffing levels in schools.
Higher training bursaries in many subjects are leading to higher numbers of applicants this year in the subjects whose bursaries increased. Nonetheless, higher bursaries are unlikely to stimulate enough new recruitment this year to meet targets. Based on applications as of February 2023, primary and nine out of 17 secondary subjects are expected to be 20 per cent or more below target, while several other subjects are also at risk of not meeting their target.
The number of teacher vacancies posted by schools, an indicator of staff turnover, was 93 per cent higher in the academic year up to February 2023 than at the same point in the year before the pandemic.
Falling retention rates and historically low teacher recruitment figures point to the deteriorating competitiveness of teaching compared to other occupations, in both pay and working conditions, which requires urgent policy action across the sector to address.