Rise in number of teachers planning to leave the job

The findings come from the latest annual survey of almost 1,800 NEU members, conducted ahead of their annual conference in Bournemouth from 11-14 April.

According to the findings, 44 per cent of England’s state-school teachers plan to quit by 2027, and half of those (22 per cent) intend to leave within two years.  

This is up from 2019, pre-pandemic when 21 per cent of respondents indicated they would leave within two years, and 51 per cent in five years.

The survey findings show that:

• Schools are struggling to fill vacant posts, leading to a doubling up of roles. Around three-quarters (73 per cent) of teachers say this has worsened since the start of the pandemic. 
• Over half (52%) of teachers say their workload is either ‘unmanageable’ or ‘unmanageable most of the time’, up from 35% in 2021. 
• Two-thirds of teachers in state-funded schools in England feel stressed at least 60 per cent of the time  

Workload

When asked in 2022, workload was the overwhelming motivation for 65 per cent of teachers in English state schools who expect to go within two years, and 63 per cent  of those departing within five years.

The vast majority of respondents said their workload was challenging. The NEU said that past surveys, including the Government’s own, typically place working hours at around 50 hours per week, well above the OECD average of 41 hours.  

In the State of Education survey, 52 per cent of English state-school teachers who responded said their workload was either unmanageable or unmanageable most of the time, with a further 30 per cent saying it was ‘only just manageable’. Just 2 per cent said it was manageable all of the time. 

One respondent said, 'People leave and then their responsibilities [are] added to another role.

'Everything is pared to the bone. We have increased leadership responsibilities but our time to carry this out has been axed. Classes are covered by teaching assistants on a regular basis, as if this is perfectly satisfactory.'

The union said that the change in just a year shows a severe and growing problem with workload, as the return of Ofsted and ever-present accountability demands clash with the urgent challenges of educational recovery post-pandemic.  

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said, ‘The Government would do well to not just accept that high workload is a problem, but that they have played a starring role in many of the contributing factors.

‘Our survey findings show that whether it be recruitment targets missed, talented teachers leaving the profession, the pernicious effects of a punitive and deeply flawed inspection system, or the effect of real-terms cuts to pay over many years, a national policy decision is always the villain of the piece. The Department for Education must take steps to right the ship, which is currently shedding too many staff and not finding enough to replace them. This is to a very large extent because the job is made unattractive and unsustainable.’ 

She added that 'teaching is a great and fulfilling job, and people go into the profession because they want to make a difference. Yet the government makes this more difficult, and if we are to collectively do the right thing for young people then we must be able to deliver the education they deserve. That change must come from the top.'  

Ofsted

The survey also found that more than 8 in 10 nursery and primary teachers in schools believe that Ofsted generates ‘a huge amount’ of ‘unnecessary work’, a higher proportion than teachers in other schools.

Three-quarters of teachers across all school types (74 per cent) agreed with the statement that Ofsted drives uneccesary work, but teachers working in England’s nursery and primary schools are more likely to associate Ofsted with huge and unnecessary workloads (81 per cent) than teachers in secondary (67 per cent) or special schools (66 per cent).

• Just 5 per cent of teachers in English state schools believe that Ofsted contributes to improvement in the education system, 4 per cent that it is independent of Government, and 5 per cent that it is a reliable arbiter of standards.  
• Three quarters (74 per cent) strongly associate inspection from Ofsted with ‘a huge amount’ of ‘unnecessary’ extra work. This rises to 81 per cent among nursery and primary teachers. 
• 39 per cent of those in leadership roles, complain of insufficient opportunities to feed into their own school’s inspection. A further one in five (21 per cent) complain they have no opportunity to do so.  

Comments included:

• ‘[There is a] massive increase in workload in run up to inspection. Focus on the inspection rather than children, lots of administrative tasks requested ”in case”, such as submitting planning each week and book monitoring.’ 
• ‘Inspections cause a tidal wave of pressure on teachers. Staff wellbeing often goes out the window in the wake of an impending inspection.’  

Bousted said, ‘Ofsted is an out-of-touch, harmful and unwelcome presence in schools.

‘The current inspection system is inadequate to the job and needs to go. As the findings of this survey shows, Ofsted’s reputation is through the floor. Worse, a clear majority think that inspections serve to undermine the ability of school leaders to focus on pupil outcomes. This cannot be right.’ 

She added that Ofsted has changed its inspection framework five times in the past nine years.

‘As our members tell us, any change to the inspection framework will inevitably generate more additional work, on top of already excessive working hours.  

‘If this Government was serious about raising standards of education, then it would by now have replaced Ofsted. Instead, we have a zombified inspectorate lumbering on regardless and a government apparently too fearful to take it on. Yet it is quite clear to the profession that what we need to see is Ofsted replaced with a new and truly collaborative system. This would pair a rounded picture of a school’s work with informed engagement, ensuring good outcomes. Crude, ill-informed judgements would finally be a thing of the past.’

The union said its State of Education survey was ‘an extensive look at the current mood of the profession’, including teachers, heads and leaders, and what they wish to see from Government. The NEU is releasing the findings during the conference.

The online survey was carried out with the union’s membership and received 1,788 responses from English state school teachers between 24 February – 8 March.

A Department for Education spokesperson said, 'We recognise the pressure that staff in schools and colleges have been under and are enormously grateful to them for their efforts, resilience, and service now and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

'Teaching remains an attractive and fulfilling profession. The number of teachers in our schools remains high, with more than 461,000 teachers working in schools across the country – 20,000 more than in 2010.

'We have taken and will continue to take action to improve teacher and leader workload and wellbeing, working proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind such issues and improve our policies and interventions.'