The Educator Magazine U.K. Sept-Dec 2024 issue - Magazine - Page 50

The challenge
that remains:
Retaining teachers
At the heart of the education sector’s challenges, is the struggle
to attract and retain skilled educators. The allure of higher salaries
in outside industries, including higher and mainstream education,
still diverts talented professionals away from the rewarding role of
teaching in further education, necessitating the urgency for change.
In this article, Gavin Beart, Divisional
Managing Director of Reed Education,
explores what the education sector
needs to do to attract and retain the
best talent.
The problem
The teacher shortage is a widescale
problem, which the industry has been
fighting for several years. In fact, in our
2024 Salary Guides report, we found
that 56% of those in teaching and
education are either actively or
considering looking for a new job
– showing that the already strained
teaching industry is still struggling
with retention.
The issue is manifold, with workload,
wellbeing support, student attainment,
demanding inspections and ongoing
funding gaps all playing a part. But a
big issue is still salary, with those in
the sector wanting an average of £14K
more per year to feel they are on a
comfortable wage.
With the challenges being complex, the
question of how we address attraction
and retention when it comes to
teaching remains.
Salary concerns remain
Throughout the first half of last year, a
long-running dispute over pay led to
months of strike action by teachers.
Thankfully, this was finally resolved with
teachers receiving a 6.5% pay rise from
September 2023.
However, according to the Salary
Guides report, nearly a third (29%) of
those in teaching and education are still
unhappy with their current wage,
stating that it has not risen with the
cost of living, and that they are unable
to meet their financial goals. While
funding can limit how much schools
can offer their teachers in terms of
salary, there are other areas education
institutions can look at to support staff.
For instance, one of the top three
reasons why people were unhappy
with their salary was because they feel
that they do ‘much more in their job
than they should’. Striking a balance in
teachers’ workloads is crucial – schools
should assess and streamline
administrative tasks, ensuring that
educators can focus more on their
primary responsibility – to teach.
Implementing effective timemanagement strategies and taking
advantage of technology to reduce
admin tasks can also contribute to a
healthier work-life balance – which is
becoming increasingly important.
If increasing salary is not an option,
consider offering teachers additional
awards or incentives. This can work
towards boosting morale and
motivation, but for this to work,
employers must make sure it will not
require teachers to complete more than
their usual workload and job
description to win.
More onus on wellbeing
A survey by TALIS showed that full-time,
lower secondary teachers in England
reported working an average of 49.3
hours per week, well above the
average of 41 hours a week. Primary
school teachers have been found to
work even longer hours, averaging 51.2
per week.
It is no surprise, therefore, that late last
year the Education Support’s Teacher
Wellbeing Index found wellbeing to be
at its lowest since 2019 among
England’s school staff – falling
significantly below the national
average. It unveiled that 78% of all
teaching staff reported they were
stressed and were twice as likely to
report feeling lonely than the rest of the
population.
This brings to the surface the need
for educational institutions to ensure
teachers have a healthy work-life

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