Teaching recruitment is in a period of crisis, thanks to a perfect storm of factors that are limiting supply and encouraging a brain drain to other sectors.
Little can be done by schools to affect the national trends, but taking control of retention is one sure-fire way to help limit vacancies, and maximise stability.
The Department for Education (DfE) has consistently missed its own teacher training targets for seven years in a row, at a time when teaching pay has declined by 20% in real terms. Additionally, teachers are dealing with inflexible hours, excessive workload, increasing demands, expanding responsibilities, peer bullying, and even behavioural issues in children. Combined, these factors have led to a 93% increase in job vacancies for 2022/23 compared with the previous year, according to statistics published in the Teacher Labour Market Annual Report.
The outgoing Conservative government committed to a £1.5 million mental health fund, new anti-bullying guidance, and steps to reduce teacher workloads, with proposals developed by the Workload Reduction Taskforce to reduce the working week by five hours within the next three years. The incoming Labour government has pledged to recruit an additional 6,500 more teachers, at the same time reviewing Ofsted services and standards, as well as focussing on children’s resilience and behaviour. While a step in the right direction, the measures will only go partway to addressing the 13,600-teacher gap left by previous years’ recruiting shortfall, and the outflow of teachers to less stressful roles. Schools, therefore, must take charge of their own workforces, and implement measures that boost retention while national measures take effect.
From 6 April, updates to the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 came into effect, entitling employees to make two flexible working requests per year (instead of one previously) and to do so from day one of their employment, instead of after 26 weeks. What’s more, employees are no longer required to evaluate the potential impact of their request on the role, and employers must make a decision more swiftly, within two months.
Many in education have expressed concerns that while the regulation is positive, it can be impractical to implement within the education sector where term-time only working and concentrated workloads can make flexible working a challenge. Traditional models such as compressed hours and remote working don’t always match the practicalities of a school setting, which means schools must innovate to offer the benefits of flexible working, in a teaching-friendly way. Here’s how:
• Timetable innovation & homeworking – In the past, timetabling has been quite rigid, with staff expected to be present on-site for all teaching hours. However, with the introduction of AI-powered predictive analysis tools, timetabling can now be optimised to ensure that each teacher is fully utilised while on-site, allowing for scheduled time for working from home or privately.
• Adjusting the workload weight – The scope of teaching responsibilities has been growing; however, not all aspects of the role necessitate a teaching qualification. By reassessing all the different responsibilities and recognising opportunities for other staff members, you can expand the pool of potential employees while also enhancing teacher retention. Some positive outcomes have been observed by re-evaluating the requirement of QTS teaching qualifications in favour of industry experience in secondary education, as well as by seeking additional teaching support and resources for specialised subjects like music or mental health, which may not be considered core teaching skills in primary education.
• Proactive supply staff management – Despite the fact that every school uses supply teachers, the management of supply staff often feels disorganised. However, we have found success in several schools that take a proactive approach by forward planning their supply resources. These schools employ “floating” personnel who provide support and cover classes as needed. More than £0.5 billion is spent on recruitment agency fees annually; about £30,000 per school. By better managing their supply staff, schools can reduce costs and ensure more efficient distribution of resources.
• Incorporating technology – Digital solutions are often considered as a great complement to teaching, offering unique, engaging, and low-resource options for educating. However, there are other digital resources – such as information management systems for example – which can streamline teacher workloads and their administrative burden, freeing up valuable time to be allocated elsewhere.
• Looking for partners – charities and businesses locally often offer services that can help alleviate teacher workloads, while teaching children key skills around resilience, behaviour, or social skills for example. Alleviating both the direct pressure on teachers, and the pressure created through bad behaviour can have an ongoing impact to teacher retention.
Current government guidelines also suggest offering part-time working and job shares, as well as staggered or annualised hours. Having a more flexible approach to term-time annual leave for personal or family days for example, can be used to encourage loyalty and minimise frustration.
Not to be overlooked is the need to make the school an attractive proposition for supply teachers, to make up the shortfall you do have. We have schools that our supply team can’t wait to go back to, which makes it easier to place and retain those candidates for long-term cover. Five years ago, the average supply teacher was working 2.6 days per week, but this has now risen to 3.5 days per week to keep up with demand. Making the school an attractive proposition, including being part of a team and making an impact, can support schools to attract this supply base.
Many innovations have made the news recently, from St Peter’s Catholic School in Solihull who will be giving teachers one working day off in ten this term, to All Saints Catholic College in London who are switching to 12-hour days (with an atypical teaching pattern to cover the hours), to improve pupil’s soft skills and life skills, and provide time for better interaction.
The sector is losing some of its best and most experienced teachers to other sectors with more ‘favourable’ employment terms. We need to look at how we work together as a sector to retain the talent we have, and to ride out what will hopefully be a temporary shortfall in much-needed funding.
Insights from Naomi Howell, Managing Director, Class People Recruitment, a specialist education recruiter.