The Commons Education Select Committee has held a wide-ranging evidence session on teacher recruitment and retention, covering issues including workload and leadership “churn”.
The first panel comprised evidence from: Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union; Kathryn Morgan, leadership and workforce specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL); and Jack Worth, lead economist at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).
The panel said recent improvements in teacher recruitment risk being short-lived unless structural issues in the sector are addressed.
Here are the five key challenges identified during the session.
1. Teacher retention is the ‘real issue’
Mr Kebede said there had been some “green shoots” of recovery in teacher recruitment, but warned that the system was still starting from “historic lows”. He pointed out that overall initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment targets had been missed in 12 out of the past 13 years.
He told MPs that teacher retention is now the “real issue”, describing the system as “trying to fill a bucket of water that’s got a hole”. Around a quarter of teachers still leave within three years, he said, while a third exit within five.
Mr Worth said NFER data showed improvements in recruitment into ITT, but these gains were “fragile”. He warned the recent improvement partly reflected a weaker labour market more widely and could not be relied on in the long term.
2. Increased leadership churn
Ms Morgan said the retention of school leaders has become a major concern for ASCL. She told MPs that membership surveys and leadership conferences showed “things are really tough out there for school leaders”.
She warned that the system is losing experienced leaders, resulting in an “increasingly younger leadership workforce”. She also pointed to upcoming research by Professor Toby Greany at the University of Nottingham that suggests teachers “don’t want to go into headship”.
Mr Kebede said that headteachers were leaving the profession at “record levels”, amounting to “quadruple the rate of 2010”.
3. Seeing past the 6,500 figure
Mr Worth said the government’s pledge to recruit 6,500 teachers was “ambitious” and broadly focused on the right areas.
Teacher shortages were most evident in secondary schools, further education, special schools and alternative provision, he said.
Mr Worth warned that the delivery of new teachers would matter more than the headline number. “If there are a lot more PE specialists and not quite as many physics, maths, computing, chemistry, then it may have met the target, but missed the point,” he said.
Mr Kebede said there were “2,300 more secondary teachers and special teachers”, but “3,000 fewer primary teachers”, meaning fewer teachers overall.
He said the government’s action on teacher recruitment should be judged on whether it reduces pressure in schools, not simply on headline totals.
4. Workload often driven by behaviour
The panel told MPs that teacher workload pressures are no longer primarily about hours, planning and marking.
Ms Morgan said behaviour is now one of the workload drivers most frequently cited by school leaders.
She said safeguarding, attendance and unmet special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are also placing growing demands on staff.
Mr Kebede said the “primary driver” of workload is pupil need and behaviour, particularly following the pandemic.
He welcomed the new £3 billion investment in SEND, but said it would take time to see the benefits of this in classrooms.
Mr Worth said survey data showed some improvement in planning and marking workload, but behaviour and lack of external support services are now “really driving teachers’ workload”.
5. Short-term gains at risk
Mr Worth warned that short-term improvements in recruitment could be undermined by decisions such as reducing some ITT bursaries.
He said bursaries were “really powerful” and “cost-effective”, with strong evidence that they increase recruitment and retention in shortage subjects.
Mr Worth also pointed to the long-term erosion of experienced teachers’ pay, saying it had fallen significantly in real terms since 2010.
Mr Kebede said teaching no longer felt “compatible with family life” for many staff, particularly women in their 30s. He said this was important because around three-quarters of the teaching profession are female.
He called for fully funded pay awards, more non-contact time and improved maternity provision to improve retention.
Ms Morgan said teachers needed to feel valued and supported, warning that without system-level change, recruitment gains would not be sustainable in the long-term.
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