Over recent years, there has been a significant shortage of teachers in England. As a result, this has led to extensive issues in the education sector. Many schools are now resorting to innovative techniques in an attempt to attract and retain more qualified teachers.
Here, we discuss current issues in education, together with new perks on offer for teachers in England and the likelihood of their success.
New Perks For Teachers in England
Teachers in England are being offered a range of new incentives, including later morning starts and nine-day fortnights. The government is encouraging schools and academy trusts to devise measures which will make the teaching profession more appealing. This comes as part of its manifesto commitment to recruit 6,500 new teachers across the country over the coming months.
Read: Work Considered Third Biggest Cause of Stress: Managing Workplace Stress
as an Employer
Schools across the UK are already putting these new perks into practice. All Saints Catholic College in West London is providing every teacher with a double period off one morning a week. This gives teachers a degree of flexibility which is generally lacking in the education sector. Naturally, it has been greeted with great enthusiasm by staff.
Separately, Dixons Academies Trust has introduced nine-day fortnights in the 16 schools it manages. Teachers’ pay will remain the same, but they will only be required to be present in school for nine weekdays out of ten. Trust leader, Luke Sparkes, states: “It’s about giving people autonomy and agency. It’s a genuine reduction in workload. We are hoping it will reduce staff absence.”
Whilst schools seem keen to embrace the new proposals, education charity Teach First wants to see further improvements for teachers. It recently published a report urging teachers to be given a “flexibility entitlement”. Such entitlement might include short-term secondments to other sectors and periodic career breaks. Such will be required to attract Gen Z workers to the teaching profession, Teach First asserts.
Like what you're reading? Don't forget to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter!
Why Are New Perks for Teachers in England Needed?
Previously, the government focused on ensuring continued professional development for teachers teaching in the UK. In 2019, it published the Early Career Framework entitling early career teachers to two years of professional development for teachers after completion of their initial teacher training. This was hoped to “help enhance their practice, knowledge and working habits”. However, new issues in education are now becoming apparent.
NAHT school leaders’ union’s general secretary, Paul Whiteman, is sternly realistic about the teaching and learning situation. “We are currently working through the most severe recruitment and retention crisis in living memory,” he explains. “Given the opportunities for flexible working in other professions, teaching needs to find ways to compete if it is to solve the recruitment and retention crisis.”
Read: Teachers to Get Better GenAI Tools To Enhance Work: Should Employers
Start Permitting Authorised Use?
Earlier this year, NASUWT, the Teacher’s Union in Harrogate, called for a “Better Deal for Teachers” in the UK. It argued that to achieve better education for young people, the government must prioritise putting teachers first. Addressing issues with low pay, high workloads, recruitment and retention, and ever-decreasing morale will be the first step to achieving this, NASUWT states.
NASUWT general secretary, Dr Patrick Roach, wholeheartedly supports this campaign. He stated: “Teachers in the UK are experiencing dystopian levels of workload and work-related stress. They can’t go on much longer without reform to their pay, their workloads, their working hours, and their rights at work.”
He added: “The Department for Education says it wants to build a world-class education system. That will require world-class working conditions for teachers.”
Poor Working Conditions Impacts Onboarding of Qualified Educators
One key issue facing the teaching and learning sector is a significant teacher shortage. The number of qualified teachers teaching in the UK has been decreasing at an alarming rate over recent years. According to a workforce survey conducted by the Department for Education, approximately 40,000 teachers left state schools between 2022 and 2023 for reasons other than retirement.
The National Foundation for Educational Research has stated that almost a quarter of qualified teachers leave the teaching profession during the first three years after qualification. Moreover, the demand for teachers has consistently exceeded the number available, meaning that there is an ongoing gap in teaching and learning which schools are consistently struggling to fill.
The working conditions of teachers in the UK are another critical issue in education, which ultimately adds to the first. Teachers in England frequently suffer heavy workloads and long working hours, generally compounded by behavioural management and administrative demands. Such conditions often lead to stress and burnout which further increase the likelihood of teachers leaving the teaching and learning sector.
Teachers in England Suffer From Job Dissatisfaction
Further research by the Department of Education, reported by the National Education Union, shows that many teachers in England have low levels of job satisfaction. This is due to factors such as insufficient training, lack of support, and challenging working conditions. Little prestige remains in the sector, with more lucrative and rewarding career alternatives providing teachers with many reasons to quit.
Read: Performance-Related Pay to be Removed for Teachers from September 2024
The teacher shortage has significant consequences for the quality of teaching in the UK. Inevitably, fewer qualified teachers are resulting in larger class sizes, stretched resources, and greater pressure on those who remain. This is impacting the quality of education which teachers are able to provide, particularly in subject areas which are most hard hit by the teacher shortage, such as science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages.
Will the New Perks Prove Successful?
There has been a mixed response to the proposed new benefits for teachers in England. Whilst many teachers are grateful for and supportive of the proposals, others feel it is too little too late. Still, others are already anticipating fresh challenges resulting from the new perks.
Chief Executive of the Saffron Academy Trust, Caroline Derbyshire, is tentatively optimistic about the proposed benefits for teachers in England. She says: “It’s a really noble ambition of the DfE to look at ways for teachers to use their time more flexibly. The idea that you can work from home where possible is a strong one…”
Teachers Need a Lighter Timetable and More Autonomy of Their Time
However, Ms Derbyshire, like many others, has no delusions about further issues these proposals could potentially cause. She states: “… the reality is less rosy because it means the pool of teachers who can cover for their colleagues is thinner, and the cost of supplying teachers is astronomical. […] The biggest improvement would be recruiting more teachers so that staff had a lighter timetable.”
Stuart Lock, Chief Executive of Advantage Schools in Bedfordshire, feels that addressing the issues of stress, high workload, and poor behaviour in pupils should be prioritised, as well as increasing teachers’ autonomy over their time. Whilst applauding the intentions behind the proposals, he is keen to ensure that pupils’ educations are not negatively impacted as a result.
Headteacher of Saint John Henry Newman RC College is supportive of the new measures proposed to attract and retain more teachers in England. He stated: “All of these are initiatives which we should be exploring […] it’s a brave new world and I imagine this is going to be the new way for educators to look at things.”