Do you remember what attracted you to a career in teaching?
For me, it wasn’t a glossy TV campaign or a fast-track leadership scheme, it was the challenge and privilege of working with young people and their families, particularly those in difficult circumstances. I’d worked abroad as a language’s assistant and EFL teacher and led a branch of what was then the West Indian Saturday School, so stepping into the classroom felt like a natural next step. I loved the energy, the satisfaction of seeing students start to get it, and the deep relationships built along the way. I wanted to be the best languages teacher I could be, to serve as a role model, and to help shape the futures of the young people around me.
Whatever first draws someone to teaching—whether it’s a love of a subject, the challenge of the classroom, a commitment to working with young people, or something else, it’s something to be protected and nurtured, especially as the profession faces increasing challenges. As one article in Schools Week (20 November 2024) put it, “The pressures now common in our schools are eroding the connection that professionals have with their own sense of purpose.” Excessive workload, relentless accountability pressures, and the strain of staff shortages mean that many teachers find it harder to stay connected to what motivated them to enter the profession.
The Teaching Commission, chaired by former NEU joint general secretary Professor Mary Bousted and supported by the major teaching unions and others, has been set up to examine the root causes of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis. It will explore the challenges facing the profession and propose actionable recommendations to recreate teaching as an attractive and sustainable profession. I’m proud to be among the commissioners, working alongside others from across the teaching profession to understand and highlight systemic issues which need urgent action.
The statistics around teacher recruitment and retention are deeply concerning. The crisis has been growing for over a decade. According to the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) ITT targets have been met only once in 11 years, and last year, secondary recruitment fell nearly 50% short. More teachers left in 2023 before retirement than ever before, with one in four leaving within three years. Vacancy rates have doubled since pre-pandemic, hitting disadvantaged areas hardest. None of this will come as a surprise to those working in schools.
The evidence presented to the Commission so far further reinforces what teachers and leaders already know and experience as their daily reality. Findings from Professor Becky Taylor, currently working on the DFE Teachers’ Working Lives survey, highlight key pressures, such as workload intensity, pupil behaviour, teacher wellbeing, pay dissatisfaction, lack of job satisfaction, and feeling undervalued, as factors pushing too many teachers to leave the profession or reconsider their future in it. Rising stress levels, anxiety, and a lack of agency, have been sobering recurring themes in both discussions and witness evidence.
Witnesses presenting to the Commission have described how deep, systemic challenges are contributing to the recruitment and retention crisis. In a recent session on Early Career Teachers (ECTs), Dr. Haili Hughes, Director of Education at IRIS Connect, shed light on why many ECTs lose the ‘magic’ in their eyes too quickly. She also emphasised that mentors are under immense pressure, struggling to balance the needs of new teachers with their own responsibilities. What must be done to help ECTs stay engaged, hone their craft, and thrive, while easing the burden on mentors?
Powerful insights from organizations like the Runnymede Trust have challenged the Commission to confront uncomfortable truths about race and inclusion in our profession. Their thought-provoking questions include: Why have we continued to tolerate the underrepresentation of Black and global majority teachers in our classrooms? Why have these groups been excluded, and why has institutional and structural racism persisted in our schools? Addressing these barriers is vital to creating a truly inclusive profession, where all teachers, regardless of their background, feel supported, recognized, and valued.
As a Commission, we’ve been listening to teachers, school leaders, and stakeholders to understand the challenges at the heart of this crisis so that we can begin to identify and put forward solutions. But it’s those working at the chalkface, teachers and school leaders, who truly know what’s happening and what needs to change.
We want to hear from teachers and leaders in your school and learn how schools and groups of schools are successfully tackling the challenges:
- What do you see as the key causes of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, and what needs to change?
- What keeps you in the profession, and what would make you want to stay long-term?
- What strategies have helped reduce workload and support wellbeing in your school or across your group of schools?
- How can ECTs be better supported in the early stages of their career to develop, thrive and stay in teaching?
- What approaches have worked in your context to recruit and retain a diverse and talented workforce?
- What change, at school, local, or national level, would make teaching a career that people want to stay in?
If you’d like to share your thoughts on any of these questions with us please complete this survey
We’re also looking forward, in the coming months, to hosting focus groups to discuss the recruitment and retention crisis with members from the SSAT network. Your insights will be invaluable in shaping the Commission’s recommendations. By sharing what works, and what must change, we can help rebuild teaching as a profession where people choose to stay, grow, and thrive.
