The teacher pay rise announced for the upcoming academic year is mostly funded by the government and has been welcomed by the teacher unions. This will give teachers above inflation pay; the government hope that this will improve teacher retention and recruitment of staff in the profession.
Is low pay why teachers are leaving the profession?
The teacher pay rise is a good indication that the new government are intending to improve conditions for the teaching profession but there are doubts as to whether increased pay will improve teacher retention, especially if it is at a cost to other improvements.
Certainly a teacher pay rise is welcomed, the cost of living has gone up and wages in the private sector have been increasing.
Recent Surveys from the National Education Union (NEU) and the Department for Education found that teachers were generally dissatisfied with pay and cited this as a reason for leaving or intending to leave the profession.
However, we talk to teachers every day and get a different picture about the dissatisfaction across the profession. Pay levels are rarely mentioned.
To improve teacher morale there are several things that the new government should look at.
Improve Teacher Retention by reducing workload
Many teachers feel overworked and stressed out from all the pressures that come with being a teacher in UK schools. For some a pay rise will help sweeten the burden but for others more pay is not going to help with their general wellbeing and work life balance.
Due to budget constraints, schools are often understaffed and so the existing staff must pick up the shortfall.
There is not sufficient time allocated during the week to mark and prepare lessons and there is an expectation that teachers work out of hours.
A recent report from The National Foundation for Education and Research (NFER) found that teacher retention issues have worsened due to increased workload pressures since the pandemic with working hours significantly increasing.
Increase in SEN, Mental Health and Behaviour Difficulties
The NFER report highlighted that worsening pupil behaviour since the pandemic is a main contributor to the increased workload for teachers.
There have been vast increases in pupils with additional needs and there has been no increase in funding or training to reflect this.
Teacher training does not focus on SEN support in schools, yet teachers are expected to manage a classroom with as much as 50% additional needs.
Teachers are expected to be social workers, SEN teachers and Mental Health specialists with no training or the right staff levels to manage the level of need in the classroom.
Earlier this year, it was reported that 1 in 5 students have been hit by a student during the last school year; we wonder whether a teacher pay rise will compensate for this and improve teacher retention in the profession.
This has to be a focus area for funding in order to improve the welfare for the pupils and teachers alike.
Revise the Ofsted Inspection Framework for disadvantaged schools
A NASUWT survey earlier this year found that some teachers had been driven to the point of suicide by the stresses of the job. Some of this will be due to workload but much of it is due to unnecessary pressure coming from the stress of inspections and government targets
We have previously questioned how useful are Ofsted inspection reports due to the framework penalising schools that are in the most need. These are also the schools with the worst teacher retention.
To improve teacher retention the new government might look at what schools can realistically achieve with the cohort that they have started with and set targets accordingly.
The idea that pupils should reach the same outcomes irrespective of their social background has been proven to be nonsense time and time again; perhaps this is an opportunity to accept that schools are not to blame for low social mobility and look at other means of accountability other than examination results.
There will be advantages both for the pupils and for the welfare of the teachers.
Summary – What needs to be done to improve teacher retention
Teachers will welcome more pay and we hope that the pay rise will improve teacher retention.
But teachers will hope that this is just the beginning of a new attitude towards the profession.
There are too few teachers and support staff in schools, culminating in often unmanageable workload.
There has been no additional funding or even recognition of the increased burden of additional SEN and Mental Health needs since the pandemic.
Schools need funding to recruit more staff as well as multi-disciplinary input from outside agencies.
And if there is going to be a new direction on education then perhaps this government can have a look at an inspection framework that rewards teachers for all the hard work that is done with the most disadvantaged in society.
If teachers are to be held responsible for outcomes, then the expected outcomes need to be realistic based on evidence.
