Teacher Recruitment and Retention

There is increasing evidence of a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention just as the number of pupils and the demand for new teachers begins to increase sharply. Excessive workload and attacks on payare driving away teachers and deterring new recruits.

Figures show that numbers recruited onto ITT (Initial Teacher Training) courses fellby more than 13% between 2010/11 and 2013/14[1]. Projected recruitment figures for 2014/15 show a further decline.

DfE figures show that in the 12 months to November 2013 (the most recent year for which statistics are available) almost 50,000 qualified teachers in England left the state sector. This equates to one in 12 teachers leaving the profession – the highest for 10 years, and an increase of more than 25% over four years. The number of full time teachers leaving as a proportion of the total number of teachers in service, known as the ‘wastage rate’, is 8.7%[2]. The same figures reveal that more than 100,000 potential teachers have never taught, despite finishing their training.

In January 2014 the head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw, said that it was a "national scandal" that around two-fifths of teachers had left the profession within 5 years and that serious questions needed to be asked about the current teacher training system[3].

In July 2014, the DfE reported that the number of children enrolled in state schools would increase by almost a million over the next decade with the rise in the number of pupils between 2014 and 2023 equivalent to the addition of more than 1,900 schools[4].

A national survey of more than 2,300 governors carried out by TES and the National Governors’ Association in the summer of 2014 revealed that one in three respondents said their schools had been finding it tough to attract head teachers and 32% said they had been struggling to recruit classroom teachers[5].

The NUT has concerns about the significant under-recruitment of the Government’s flagship School Direct training route. The Unionsharesthe concerns of Universities UK that an increasing focus on School Direct has built a considerable instability into the teacher training system[6].

Recent changes to teachers’ pay such as ending prescribed pay scale points, extending PRP to all pay ranges and introducing school-based pay determinationare likely to damage still further teacher recruitment and retention, and the same could well be said of the effects of the Government’s detrimental changes to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

This is borne out by the results of a YouGov survey (January 2014), which found that 52% of teachers said they were less likely to stay in teaching as a result of changes to their pay and pensions and three-quarters said their morale had declined since the last General Election[7].

The Government can ill-afford to lose valuable teachers at any time, but especially not in the present context of sharply rising pupil numbers. Securing teacher supply for the future and preventing teacher wastage requires action to make teaching an attractive profession in comparison with other graduate occupations, in particular by offering professional levels of pay and by reducing workload to manageable levels.

Produced by the National Union of Teachers

[1]DfE – Statistics: initial teacher training. Available at

[2]DFE – Statistics – national statistics - School Workforce in England: November 2013. Available at (Additional Tables)

[3]The Guardian (2014), Ofsted Chief: two-fifths of teachers quitting within five years is a ‘scandal’ . Available at

[4]DfE Statistical First Release National Pupil Projections: Future Trends in Pupil Numbers (July 2014) Available at

[5]TES (15 August 2014), Schools have the jobs, so where are the staff? Available at

[6]UniversitiesUK - The Impact of Initial Teacher Training Reforms on English Higher Education Institutions. Available at

[7]NUT commissioned YouGov poll of 826 teachers carried out in December 2013. NUT (January 2014). Teachers’ New Year Message [online]. Available at: