What the new Labour government really needs to tackle is ways to stop trained teachers quitting.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has accepted recommendations made by the independent School Teachers’ Review Body, giving teachers in England a pay rise of 5.5% from autumn 2024.
The award has been well-received by teachers’ unions – with the clear message that more is expected. Patrick Roach, general secretary of teachers’ union NASUWT, called it an “important first step in restoring the competitiveness of teachers’ pay”.
Making teaching an attractive profession, through pay and other changes, is vital because there is a recruitment and retention crisis in schools. In 2022-23, 39,971 teachers in English state schools quit teaching (a further 3,369 retired). A similar number left in the year before: 39,597.
The previous government also consistently missed recruitment targets for key subjects. In both 2023-24 and 2022-23, for instance, only 17% of the target number of trainee physics teachers were recruited.
The new Labour government therefore intends to recruit 6,500 additional teachers, using the funds raised from removing the tax exemption for private schools. This will be welcome, especially if vacancies can be filled in shortage subjects like physics.
However, enough people tend to join the profession each year to keep the total number of teachers steady. What the new government really needs to tackle is ways to keep trained teachers in schools.
This pay award is a start. Teachers’ pay has not kept up with inflation, meaning that teachers have seen their salaries fall in real terms. This has hit more experienced, senior teachers the hardest, with their salaries falling by 13% in real terms between 2010 and 2023.
In addition to the pay award, the government has also committed to removing the system of performance-related pay for teachers. This should make salary increases easier to award within schools.
There is much more that could be done, though. International research suggests that a lack of resources and workplace stress as well as low pay relative to other fields contributes to a shortage of teachers.
In Education Support’s 2023 Teacher Wellbeing Index, 78% of the over 3,000 teachers surveyed reported that they were stressed, more than in the previous years’ survey. Nearly 40% of teachers in the survey reported having had mental health issues in the past year.
There are several steps that could be taken to alleviate teacher stress. One would be improving teachers’ ability to work flexibly. The government has promised to clarify that teachers are permitted to carry out planning tasks at home. However, more could be done.
Research suggests that the nature of teaching – requiring teachers to be in school for a set number of hours – makes it difficult to work flexible hours. But there are ways schools could be granted greater flexibility in teaching hours. This might include options such as compressed hours, a four-day work week, flexible hours, personal days off, remote working, phased retirement, part-time work, or job sharing.
However, the complex logistics of timetabling and additional costs are some of the barriers to implementing flexible working hours. Additional staff would be needed to make this kind of working possible, leading to further staff costs.
Another option could be to allow schools to offer sabbaticals for long-serving teachers. Having the option to take time away from the classroom could help teachers deal with stress, as long as there are resources available for the school to find replacements during this period.
Ofsted inspections are a key source of stress for teachers in England. In the 2023 Teacher Wellbeing Index, 73% of teachers surveyed said that the inspection system is not fit for purpose, and 71% said that inspections negatively impact staff mental health and wellbeing. This means that teachers are becoming stressed over something that they do not think helps them to do their job.
Labour promised in its manifesto to replace single-word Ofsted judgments with “report cards”. This is an important step. But the role of Ofsted should be supportive. This means not just identifying areas where schools can improve, but also providing guidance on how to make those improvements.
What’s more, factors such as school and pupil demographics can significantly affect how schools perform in inspections. It is possible to predict Ofsted grades for over 71% of schools just from characteristics such as the proportion eligible for free school meals, the percentage of students with special educational needs, and levels of deprivation. Ofsted does not seem to be able to overcome the bias created by these factors.
When teachers are thriving, the positive effects ripple outwards. Research shows a link between teacher wellbeing and student wellbeing.
Research also shows that teachers who have a positive relationship with their students are happier with their job.
This, in turn, leads to greater teacher motivation and satisfaction, and thus increases their likelihood of staying on in the profession. If teachers remain in schools, the recruitment of additional staff will then lower the ratio of students to staff, ease workload pressures, and allow teachers more time for preparation and pastoral support.
Beng Huat See receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.
Stephen Gorard receives funding from the ESRC..
