Season 2, Episode 3 - How do you retain Happy Teachers?

The Happy Teacher Pod

Our third episode of season 2 discusses the teacher retention crisis. Roughly 35,000 teachers leave the state sector every year and 27% of those leaving are women aged 30-39 (that’s people like us!). Despite what the media and the government might say, we don’t have a recruitment crisis, we have a retention crisis. And money alone isn’t going to solve it. The average leaver experiences a 10% pay cut but also a 12% cut in working hours. What’s more, 20% of secondary teachers take up part time roles after leaving the profession. What these statistics point to is that teacher profession needs a reduction in workload and flexibility to be truly embraced by every headteacher in the land. Without these two, the crisis will never be solved.

In this week’s Break-time Banter, we hear from Roxy about the move her colleagues made from PE teaching to train directing!

Get In The Bin comes from Jenny who throws away job adverts that only offer full time contracts. Her Go For The Win is a simple one: offer all roles with flexible contracts. If a role truly requires five full days of in-school work, offer it as a job share, as well as a full time role. If you don’t, you’re missing out on some excellent staff.

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