Professor Becky Francis CBE, CEO, Education Endowment Foundation
And yet, one of the biggest challenges facing our schools is staffing. Many are struggling to fill vacancies and levels of teacher churn are unsustainably high. This recruitment and retention challenge is a deep concern and most urgent priority. Simply put, when schools are understaffed, pupil learning and teacher wellbeing suffer. There is even a danger of a cycle of decline, as shortages increase workload for remaining teachers and damage morale. Even more important, then, to turn the tide.
Of course, not all of this is in schools’ control. As evidence shows, pay and conditions, as well as wider economic and social factors, influence teacher supply. But, in any workplace, strong leadership is crucial for keeping hold of employees. It can foster trust, motivation, and a positive culture. In schools, effective leadership is particularly important. Trust leaders have a large degree of autonomy to shape the culture in their schools, whether that’s through behaviour and workload policies, or professional development opportunities.
So how can trust and school leaders support retention of their staff?
As ever, at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), we look to evidence for answers. Through our flagship research theme of teacher recruitment and retention, we’ve reviewed the best available evidence to summarise what we already know about the best ways to attract – and keep – teachers in the profession.
Issues of workload and flexible working have been evidenced as important in recruitment and retention; and we have specific reviews on these topics. One review, led by a team from the University of Durham and Warwick University, focused specifically on how leadership can support retention. The researchers started by identifying three approaches and their associated practices that research tells us could support retention.
1.Prioritise your teacher’s development and professional growth.
- Provide constructive feedback to support teachers to innovate and work collaboratively to address specific challenges they may be facing.
- Give teachers opportunities – and remove any barriers – to accessing professional development opportunities.
- Cultivate leadership potential by supporting early career teachers to innovate in their practice or take part in mentoring opportunities.
2. Build mutual trust between senior leaders and teachers.
- Treat your teachers as individuals and treat them with respect.
- Consider teacher voice and incorporate that into decision-making.
3. Focus on improving working conditions.
- Support your teachers’ professional autonomy.
- Promote collegiality, including inclusive participation in decision making, mutual and reciprocal support, as well as shared power and responsibility.
- Develop an equitable support and recognition system that recognises teachers’ efforts and contributions.
- Establish an effective communication structure, including clear communication channels and a clear vision for your school or trust.
- Support teachers – particularly those in the early stages of their career – to manage pupil behaviour and enforce school rules.
Next, the researchers looked at the evidence to identify the characteristics of school culture, climate and structure that can support teacher retention. Four key traits stood as particularly important for improving teacher wellbeing and turnover:
- A collegial culture that fosters trusting relationships, respect, mutual support and compassionate leadership.
- A positive climate for school discipline, where rules of schools and classrooms are consistently respected and complied.
- A culture of intellectual stimulation that that fosters experimentation, critical thinking and problem-solving.
- A fair structure of workload and support distribution, including equal access to professional development opportunities, fair recognition of contributions and achievements, and inclusive and transparent decision-making.
Finally, our research wanted to identify if there are any strategies that are particularly effective for supporting retention in schools with high numbers of socio-economically disadvantaged pupils. Crucially, we found that effective school leadership – and a positive school culture - is especially important for keeping teachers in socio-economically disadvantaged schools.
Our reviews really reaffirmed to me just how crucial good leaders are for keeping teachers in the profession. The findings will help us to sharpen the focus of our future research, making sure we put our resources behind trialling strategies with the greatest potential to make a difference in this crucial area.
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of getting our approach to recruitment and retention right, not just in terms of securing the best academic outcomes for our children, but for making sure teaching staff feel valued and see longevity in their roles. We hope that the evidence can aid trusts and school leaders in their efforts to support a facilitative organisational climate for recruitment and retention.
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