Teacher Retention and Turnover Research: Interim Report
24 October 2017
Teacher Retention and Turnover Research Infographic
Recruiting and retaining enough teachers to serve growing numbers of pupils is one of the key challenges currently facing England’s education system. This interim report is the latest paper in a programme of major research funded by the Nuffield Foundation to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics within the teaching workforce in England.
Using data from the School Workforce Census, the report explores factors associated with teacher retention and turnover and offers recommendations for policymakers with an emphasis on retention. Key findings and recommendations from the report include:
Key Findings
- The Government and stakeholders in the secondary sector need to urgently look at ways of accommodating more part-time working in secondary schools to help alleviate teacher supply challenges in these schools across England.
- The Government should explore why the rate at which older teachers have been leaving the profession increased between 2010 and 2015 and explore whether they could be incentivised to stay in the profession longer, particularly in subjects with specialist teacher shortages.
- There appears to be little evidence to date that multi-academy trusts (MATs) are better able to retain teachers by providing opportunities to move within their structure. Leaders of MATs should do more to promote the benefits of working in their organisation to their teachers; for example, by raising the profile of the MAT as the structure that teachers belong to.
- The teacher supply challenge in London is particularly acute when compared to other geographic areas. Policymakers should look at how policy interventions, such as housing subsidies, could help to retain teachers in high-cost areas.
We have also created an easy to use infographic on part-time working which is available to download here.
Related Titles
Teacher Retention and Turnover Research , Teacher Retention and Turnover Research , Teacher retention and turnover research - Research update 1 , Teacher retention and turnover research - Research update 2