Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Education and Skills (DfES)
SUMMARY
— Retaining good teachers in schools
is a high priority for the Government. Having invested time and
money in training people to a high standard, we must make the
most of their expertise.
— Effective recruitment is the starting
point. Training bursaries and golden hellos have had a significant
effect on numbers with recruitment in secondary training this
year up 16% on 1998-99. Increasing numbers has not brought a diminution
in quality, and this increasing flow of well-qualified and well-prepared
trainees is likely to help retention in the longer run.
— FTE regular teacher numbers are up
by 4,300 on last year and by 13,700 since January 2001 bringing
the total to 423,900. They have reached their highest level since
1982. Regular teacher numbers (excluding supply teachers) are
up in both primary and secondary schools. Total teacher vacancies
have fallen since last year by 1,140 (-25%). Headteacher, deputy
head and classroom teacher vacancies have all fallen. Classroom
teacher vacancies are down 27% on last year. The national teacher
vacancy rate is 0.9%, the first time it has been below 1% since
2000. Since 2001, total teacher vacancies have fallen by 32%.
— Retention also appears to be getting
better. Latest data from the University of Liverpool in the 2002
calendar year suggest that wastage rates from teaching have stabilised
or are decreasing, after rising since 1998. The major reason teachers
give for leaving is workload. Secondary teachers also cite pupil
behaviour. Personal factors (wanted change/new challenge, personal
circumstances) are also important. The main reasons for staying
are helping pupils learn, love of a subject, a sense of vocation
and school holidays.
— Based on this and other research
the Government's retention policies concentrate on reducing teacher
workload and bureaucracy, and making more time for professional
development and lesson planning; supporting teachers better in
managing behaviour and supporting learning and professional development
for teachers, especially in the early years in the profession.
— These are the three national policy
strategies, which apply to all teachers. In addition, we have
particular policies aimed at teachers in shortage subjects; teachers
in particular parts of the country, notably London; and teachers
at particular stages in their careers. And at the forefront of
our measures to modernise the profession, to raise standards,
to address teachers' concerns, and to improve retention is workforce
remodelling.
— On 15 January 2003, all national
partners, with the exception of the NUT, signed the National Agreement
on Workload—"Raising Standards and Tackling Workload:
a National Agreement"—which represents a broad,
deep and determined coalition for a better deal for teachers and
pupils. The benefits to schools and their staff of remodelling
will be profound. Schools that have already addressed the issue
of teacher workload will be in a stronger position to retain their
staff. Not only will teachers experience a reduction in workload,
their work will also be focused on teaching and their professional
responsibilities.
— Improving schools' and teachers'
ability to deal with challenging behaviour from pupils is crucial
to raising educational standards, as well as improving teacher
retention and job satisfaction. The Government is therefore investing
nearly £470 million over the next three years in a major
programme to achieve that.
— Better human resource management
is also vital, reinforcing the reasons why teachers enjoy their
profession. It is here that our strategies for Continuing Professional
Development and improved leadership have a key role to play.
— Pay and pensions have been improved.
A good honours graduate who started teaching in 1997, for example,
will have seen his salary increase by 68% in real terms by April
this year and The Teachers' Pension Scheme, as a final salary
scheme providing an index-linked range of benefits, is an increasingly
attractive retention incentive when compared to pension developments
elsewhere. In recent years we have taken action to make the scheme
more flexible, so that teachers who wish to reduce their working
week while not leaving the profession altogether are not disadvantaged.
— The effects of retention on pupil achievement
are hard to establish. It must be true that schools which are
unable to retain high calibre teachers find it harder to achieve
high standards for their pupils. Schools which have high proportions
of pupils who enter with low attainment or with behaviour problems;
schools which have poor and decaying buildings and fabric; and
schools whose leadership and management standards are poor are
likelier to have difficulties with both standards and retention.
But it is certainly not true that this necessarily applies to
all schools serving "tough" areas, or with high proportions
of children entitled to free school meals. There are plenty of
examples of schools which succeed despite these challenges.
— Everyone in the education system
has a role to play to ensure the current encouraging trend is
maintained. The initiatives described in this memorandum—on
workload, behaviour, professional development, leadership and
so forth—are intended to help schools and those who run
them. But they will not work by themselves. Every school, as an
employer, and every LEA must take responsibility for the way it
manages its employees as much of their job satisfaction depends
on the working environment and colleagues that they meet there.
Retention cannot be considered entirely independently
from recruitment. The following section and the associated tables
are designed to highlight the impact that recent initiatives have
had on improving the numbers and the quality of recruits into
Initial Teacher Training (ITT).
IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE NUMBERS
AND QUALITY
OF RECRUITS
INTO ITT
(The tables referred to in this Section are located
in Annex A)
1. Teaching is a profession with good job
security, comparatively good prospects of advancement, long holidays
and, over the last five years, pay rates that have appeared increasingly
favourable by comparison with other parts of the public sector.
Nevertheless, in times of economic stability, public-sector employers
find it hard to compete with the material rewards on offer in
the private sector.
2. The Government and the Teacher Training
Agency have taken measures to help ensure that teacher recruitment
over the last three years has been able to buck the economic trend.
This has been largely thanks to the introduction of a portfolio
of financial incentives. The upturn in recruitment for mathematics
and science began in 1999-2000 with the introduction of "old-style"
Golden Hello incentives for PGCE trainees in these subjects, consisting
of a £2,500 bursary during training and a further £2,500
lump-sum on appointment to a post in a maintained school. From
2000-01, these payments were superseded by a training bursary
of £6,000 for all home and European PGCE trainees, followed
by a £4,000 "new-style" Golden Hello for those
qualifying and completing their induction year in the priority
subjects of mathematics, science, modern languages, technology
and English.
3. The effect of these incentives on recruitment
has been dramatic with full-time equivalent regular teacher numbers
up to 423,900, their highest level since 1982. Table [1] shows,
in the current academic year, 11,057 trainees have been recruited
in the five priority subjects, compared with just 8,871 in 1998-99.
Overall, recruitment in secondary training this year is 16% higher
than it was then. The signs are that this positive trend is continuing.
Applications for PGCE courses starting in 2003-04 are running
well above last year's level overall and in almost all individual
secondary subjects.
4. Data on the academic qualifications held
by postgraduate secondary trainee teachers by subject as shown
in table [2] are available only up to the 2000-01 entry cohort.
Data for 2001-02 will be published this summer. While there are
some year-on-year fluctuations, the figures suggest that about
half of new entrants to PGCE courses consistently hold an Upper
Second or better degree, and that the increase in recruitment
that followed the introduction of training bursaries from September
2000 did not bring a diminution of the academic credentials of
trainees.
5. Data on completion and progression among
final-year undergraduate and postgraduate secondary trainees as
given in table [3] is also available for the 2000-01 cohort and
shows that, while the proportion who gained Qualified Teacher
Status (QTS) fell slightly over the previous year, the proportion
of qualifiers who went straight into teaching jobs rose. The increasing
flow of well-qualified, suitable and well-prepared trainees is
likely to help retention in the longer run.
6. The incremental easing of the recruitment
position has allowed the Government gradually to increase the
number of training places that it funds, moving away from the
concept of an annual recruitment "target" and towards
a system that encourages training providers to raise their aspirations
in terms of the number of places that they fill. Accordingly,
the number of places on secondary training courses in 2003-04,
at 19,475, will be 10% higher than it was this year and 17% higher
than in 1999-2000.
7. As well as seeking to recruit new graduates
who are likely to stay, the Government has also sought to widen
the range of recruitment markets in which teaching is active.
The QTS credits and Teacher Associates Scheme are seeking to give
undergraduates a taste of what working in a school is like (and,
in the case of the former, academic credit towards a teaching
qualification) with a view to encouraging them to choose teacher
training when they graduate. The early results of these schemes
show that they are having a positive effect on students' perceptions
of the teaching profession, and they are set to expand over the
next three years. Last year's Spending Review also provided funds
for the TTA to develop subject enhancement courses in mathematics,
physics, chemistry and modern languages. The Government hopes
that these will in due course provide an effective route into
teaching for graduates whose subject-knowledge falls just below
the degree-equivalence needed for admission to a PGCE.
8. The most important of the new markets
being exploited is, however, that of mature career-changers. The
Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP), created in 1998, has quickly
become a major contributor to secondary teacher recruitment. Under
this programme, mature graduates are able to work towards QTS
while being employed in schools (and paid) as unqualified teachers.
Employment-based training options are now also available to those
with HND or equivalent qualifications and overseas-trained teachers
who wish to develop longer-term careers in this country than would
be possible without gaining QTS. In 2001-02, the employment-based
routes provided 10% of all secondary trainees, and as many as
17% in the five priority subjects. The Government announced on
13 December 2002 that the number of employment-based training
places on offer would double by 2005-06. Over 90% of entrants
to employment-based training go on to gain QTS and take up jobs
in the maintained school sector.
9. It is clearly desirable to ensure that
as many new teachers as possible be encouraged to make use of
their training. In determining whether or not newly-qualified
teachers actually take up their first teaching post and then stay,
experience of school life gained while in training and the availability
of a suitable post in a convenient location are clearly important.
The Government has also introduced a number of additional, targeted
financial incentives to encourage more teachers to go directly
into and then stay in the profession. Golden Hellos have, in their
various forms, been available since 1999-2000. These were supplemented
last September by a scheme to pay off, over time, the student
loan debts of new teachers of the five priority subjects if they
enter and remain in teaching posts in the maintained sector.
10. Newly-qualified teachers are the main,
but not the only, component of the supply of secondary teachers
with QTS. Returners to the profession and teachers who move into
the maintained sector from other types of service (for example,
in an independent school) also make a major contribution to replenishing
the teaching force. Table [4] shows the numbers of entrants and
leavers to the maintained secondary schools sector over time.
They show that in only three years out of ten from 1988-89 were
there more entrants to than leavers from teaching, but that numbers
of entrants exceeded number of leavers in the three years to 2000-01,
on the most recent data available.
11. The extent to which the secondary teaching
force has grown since 1997 is shown by table [5]. There are now
almost 18,000 more full-time equivalent teachers in secondary
schools than there were in 1997. Although some of this increase
is due to changes in the Teachers' Pensions Scheme, larger numbers
of overseas-trained teachers, employment-based trainees and instructors
without QTS, there has also been a rapid increase in the number
of staff with QTS who are, it might be presumed, more likely to
stay. Growing numbers of qualified teachers working part-time
suggest that employment practices are becoming more family-friendly,
and that this may be allowing teachers who have taken a break
from the profession for family reasons to return sooner than might
have been the case a few years ago.
12. Despite larger numbers of teachers,
it appears from table [6] that there is no clear relationship
between trends in numbers of secondary teachers and the number
of secondary classroom teacher vacancies. This may be due partly
to the increases in school funding that took place over this period
having allowed headteachers to aspire to a staffing complement
closer to their ideal than was possible in less generous times.
Geographical factors may also have played a part in local teacher
availability. Of the 2,050 secondary teacher vacancies (1,940
classroom teacher vacancies) recorded in January 2003, over a
quarter were in London schools.
13. Although steadily growing teacher numbers
are welcome in themselves (Annex B provides further statistical
information), the constraints on the supply of new teachers
already described and the fact that teacher superannuation will
peak over the next few years mean that this trend is unlikely
to continue indefinitely. This was recognised by the former Secretary
of State in her speech to the Social Market Foundation in November
2001, which heralded a new approach to teacher supply. The Government
aims to continue to focus on bringing teachers into the classroom,
but with the aim of using them better, supporting them more effectively
and retaining them longer once they are there. The remodelling
agenda is covered below.
TEACHERS LEAVING
THE PROFESSION—SOME
EVIDENCE
14. The most recent research on factors
affecting teachers' decisions to leave the profession is by Smithers
and Robinson at the University of Liverpool, a project commissioned
by the DfES. The study involved surveys of schools and teachers
across the three termly resignation dates in 2002.
15. The research found that, in 2002, 14.8%
of teachers in primary schools and 12.8% in secondary schools
resigned from their posts, but most of these teachers were moving
onto full-time jobs in other maintained schools (33.4% primary
and 38.8% secondary). A significant minority were moving to supply
teaching (10.9% from primary and 3.6% from secondary). Other destinations
included:
— 13% were retiring (12.1% from primary
13.5% from secondary);
— 9% leaving for maternity/family care
(12% from primary and 5.7% from secondary);
— 7% were taking other teaching posts,
for example in the independent sector and FE (6.3% from primary
and 8.6% from secondary);
— 5% to "other employment"
(3.8% from primary and 5.9% from secondary);
— 4% to other education jobs eg LEA
advisers (3.8% primary and 4.5% secondary); and
— 4% to travel (3.4% primary and 4%
secondary).
16. Secondary schools have lower turnover
(ie loss from a particular school) and wastage (ie loss from the
profession) than primary schools. The survey findings identified
turnover rates of 15.3% for primary and 13.1% for secondary; and
wastage rates of 9.3% for primary and 7.3% for secondary.
17. Those leaving tended to be either very
young teachers with a few years' service or older teachers approaching
retirement, to be female, and to teach in shortage subjects. This
was similar across both primary and secondary.
18. Smithers and Robinson suggest that the
rise in teacher loss of the last few years seems to have improved
when looking at DfES and Employer Organisation comparable figures.
Reasons for leaving the profession:
19. For an individual school, it makes little
difference whether a teacher is leaving to take another post in
a different school or leaving the profession completely. For the
Department, our attention is naturally more focused on keeping
teachers in the profession.
20. Liverpool University asked those leaving
the profession for their reasons. The main ones rated as "of
great importance" by secondary teachers were: workload (39%);
wanting a change (38%); Govt initiatives (35%); stress (34%) and
poor pupil behaviour (34%). The picture for primary schools was
very similar, except that pupil behaviour ranked much lower.
21. These findings echo those of other research
and polls, including the large-scale survey by the GTC in late
2002. This survey with 70,000 respondents, asked why teachers
go into teaching, and stay there. The main reasons are because
they like working with children (54%) and they think it is a creative,
varied, challenging job (33%). These factors continue to motivate
them during their career—working with children (cited by
48%), the job satisfaction of teaching (32%) and the creativity
and stimulation that it brings (25%). There are also many teachers
(approximately 15% for each) who value their school community/collegiality,
their subject, family friendly hours, the long holidays or simply
think it is too late to do anything else.
22. When asked how they think the profession
should develop—the largest single request was for "appropriate
support to be able to concentrate on teaching and learning"
(59%). 56% of teachers say they want "ring fenced time for
professional development". 44% want to be free to adapt the
curriculum to meet the needs of individual pupils and 36% want
to be "free to use autonomous and creative learning and teaching
approaches".
23. Based on this research (and, rather
more so, the previous studies with similar findings), the Government's
secondary retention policies concentrate on:
— Reducing teacher workload and bureaucracy,
and making more time for professional development and lesson planning.
— Supporting teachers better in managing
behaviour.
— Supporting learning and professional
development for teachers, especially in the early years in the
profession.
These are the three national policy strategies,
which apply to all teachers. In addition, we have particular policies
aimed at teachers in shortage subjects; teachers in particular
parts of the country, notably London; and teachers at particular
stages in their careers. And at the forefront of our measures
to modernise the profession, to raise standards, to address teachers'
concerns, and to improve retention is workforce remodelling.
WORKLOAD AND
BUREAUCRACY—WORKFORCE
REMODELLING
24. Our strategy on school workforce remodelling
has been developed over many months, and in close consultation
with national partners with an interest in our schools. It brings
together the need to reduce teacher workload with the need to
continue to raise standards in secondary schools. We recognise,
above all, that a tired teacher is not an effective teacher. And
a teacher must be allowed to focus on what is most important—teaching
and learning.
25. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report on
teacher workload, commissioned by Government and published in
December 2001, found that teachers were spending 20% of their
time on administrative and supervisory tasks that could be done
by others. The subsequent School Teachers' Review Body report,
building on the PwC work, made plain that teacher workload needed
to be tackled. Teacher hours in term-time were on average 52 hours
per week, and in some cases higher. The STRB made a series of
proposals for reducing excessive workload, including thorough
changes to the teachers' contract. In responding to these proposals,
the Government entered into detailed discussions with all national
partners with the aim of reaching an agreement on the nature and
implementation of reforms that would turn the tide on teacher
workload.
26. In October 2002 the Government published
"Time for Standards"—a vision of the future
whereby lessons are delivered more flexibly, supported by a wider
range of adults and ICT, so that teachers have more "time
to teach" and headteachers are committed to leading change
in their schools.
27. On 15 January 2003, all national partners,
with the exception of the NUT, signed the National Agreement on
Workload—"Raising Standards and Tackling Workload:
a National Agreement"—which represents a broad,
deep and determined coalition for a better deal for teachers and
pupils. It set out particular milestones for implementing the
agreement in schools:
— Routine delegation of 24 non-teaching
tasks
— Begin to promote reductions in overall
excessive hours
— Introduce new work/life balance clause
— Establish new Implementation Review
Unit
— Undertake review of use of school
closure days
— Introduce new limits on covering
for absent teachers
— Phase three—2005 (at latest)
— Guaranteed professional time for
planning, preparation and assessment
28. Progress on delivery of the proposals
in the National Agreement is being monitored through the establishment
of the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group—a group for
Signatories to the Agreement, but involving other partners as
necessary. It will promote the Agreement, help to finalise the
new contractual and legal framework and initiate change on the
ground.
29. On 7 April 2003 a consultation package
developed in partnership with WAMG was published. It contains
details of proposed changes to teachers' contracts, regulations
on the role of support staff in teaching and learning and a set
of standards for Higher Level Teaching Assistants. The consultation
represents the first concrete step in implementing the National
Agreement.
30. A National Remodelling Team has been
established as part of the National College for School Leadership.
Under the leadership of Dame Patricia Collarbone; the team will
work closely with WAMG, LEAs and other partners to help schools
to remodel. The Team will establish a network of support that
will provide practical guidance on remodelling for the nation's
schools. The NRT will also support school leaders in managing
change within their schools, building on the success of the Transforming
School Workforce Pathfinder project (see case study).
31. The NRT will draw on the expertise and
knowledge of LEAs to ensure school successfully remodel. A network
of LEA facilitators will work closely with the team and help schools
to deliver the national agreement.
32. Over the next three years there will
be significant extra money coming into the system, with £2.6
billion this year, and more in the next two years. There have
been well-reviewed and debatable issues around school funding
this year. But remodelling has always been about the total amount
of resources available to a school. Schools will need to look
carefully at how they use existing resources as well as new funding
to meet the contractual requirements outlined in the Agreement
and to successfully remodel. They need to think in new ways about
how they can best utilise the range of skills within their workforce,
both existing and new. And how they deploy them to allow a sharper
focus on teaching and learning.
Effects of Remodelling on Retention
33. The benefits to schools and their staff
of successfully remodelling will be numerous. Schools that have
already addressed the issue of teacher workload will be in a stronger
position to retain their staff. Not only will teachers experience
a reduction in workload, their work will also be focused on teaching
and their professional responsibilities. Evidence from the Transforming
School Workforce Pathfinder project has clearly highlighted the
benefits a remodelled workforce can have. A snapshot shot survey
of the 32 heads involved in the project, taken just 6 months into
the year long project, produced the following results:
— 29 heads said that their teachers'
workload had reduced or been redistributed either significantly
or to a large extent.
— Half said their workforce were now
experiencing a better work/life balance.
— All reported benefits on teacher
morale and well being with just over a third saying these were
significant.
(Case studies provided as Annex C outline
some of the plans implemented by Cirencester Deer Park school
in Gloucestershire and the benefits that they have experienced).
Tackling Bureaucracy
34. The Implementation Review Unit (IRU)
is another key component of implementing the national workforce
agreement. A panel of 12 experienced practitioners (nine heads,
two senior teachers and one bursar) will review existing and new
policy initiatives by the Government and other relevant organisations
such as QCA and LSC. It will tackle unnecessary paper work, assess
workload implications and reduce bureaucratic processes. We expect
the IRU—which will publish an annual report on its work—also
to be vigorous and challenging to the Department in the cause
of reducing burdens on schools and maximising the coherence and
effective communication of DfES strategies and policies.
BEHAVIOUR
35. Improving schools' and teachers' ability
to deal with challenging behaviour from pupils is crucial to raising
educational standards, as well as improving teacher retention
and job satisfaction. The Government is therefore investing nearly
£470 million over the next three years in a major programme
to achieve that. The programme has two main elements:
— a universal element, providing every
secondary school with review, training and consultancy support;
and
— a targeted element providing intensive
support for schools facing the greatest challenges.
36. The universal element is a new behaviour
and attendance strand of the Key Stage 3 Strategy. From September
2003 it will provide every secondary school with materials enabling
them to review how they improve and manage behaviour and to identify
staff training needs. It will also provide training materials
to meet those needs. Every LEA will have expert behaviour and
attendance consultants to help schools carry out reviews and deliver
subsequent training. All this will enable schools to improve their
systems and give staff greater confidence in managing behaviour.
37. The targeted element will extend Behaviour
Improvement Projects (BIPs) beyond the 34 local education authorities
(LEAs) in which they have been operating since September 2002.
BIPs provide intensive support for selected secondary schools
and linked primary schools. They are packages of behaviour support
measures tailored to local needs, but typically include multi-agency
Behaviour and Education Support Teams (BESTs) to work with pupils
with the most serious problems, Learning Mentors and in-school
Learning Support Units beyond those already provided by the Excellence
in Cities (EiC) programme and police officers based in schools.
38. BIPs are now part of the behaviour and
attendance strand of the EiC programme. They will be extended
to 27 more LEAs by September 2003, which means BIPs in all EiC
LEAs supporting over 200 secondary schools, and to all Excellence
Clusters by September 2005.
39. The BIPs operating in pathfinder LEAs
are already starting to show results. London University's ongoing
evaluation shows fewer exclusions from targeted schools and that
teachers welcome support from multi-agency BESTs, additional Learning
Mentors, police in schools and senior staff appointed to take
responsibility for whole-school behaviour management issues.
CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT (CPD), FEEDBACK,
PROGRESSION AND
LEADERSHIP
40. Workload, bureaucracy and behaviour
are reasons why teachers leave teaching, and we are seeking to
reduce them. But it is equally important to reinforce the reasons
why teachers enjoy their profession, and want to continue in it.
It is here that Continuing Professional Development (CPD) has
a key role to play. According to the GTC survey, most teachers
are looking for "appropriate support to be able to concentrate
on teaching and learning", and time for professional development.
41. Our current strategy, launched two years
ago in March 2001, aims to create better opportunities for relevant,
focused and effective professional development leading to improved
skills, knowledge, understanding and effectiveness in schools.
There is a range of centrally-funded work-related training and
development programmes and initiatives available to teachers.
In particular these create opportunities to share effective practice
and to learn from other schools, and encourage Heads to develop
their schools as professional learning communities.
42. We are proposing to extend the Early
Professional Development (EPD) Programme nationally from September
2004. This is intended to support teachers better during the critical
first five years of their teaching careers. Interim evaluation
of the EPD Pilot by the National Foundation for Educational Research
has shown that the pilot has had a positive impact on the morale
of those involved and, consequently, their commitment to teaching.
43. In addition, the Centre for British
Teachers (CfBT) has been commissioned to design and create an
on-line tool for teachers in their first five years in the profession,
which will enable them to be more strategic when planning their
career progression and professional development. The project will
provide a comprehensive digest of possible career paths in teaching
and a map of professional development and employment opportunities.
These materials will be launched in September 2004 to accompany
the introduction of the national scheme of early professional
development for teachers.
44. All this will, we believe, be welcome
to teachers. However, we also know that offering training and
development opportunities by themselves are not enough; they need
to be linked closely to an individual's needs. That will sometimes
mean their personal needs; sometimes the needs of their job. Teachers,
like any other employees, need suggestions and feedback from managers
and colleagues, to help them identify their needs.
45. This is why effective and satisfying
CPD needs to run alongside an effective performance management
system in each school. Performance management, when done well,
will raise a teacher's sense of satisfaction and commitment. It
provides a focus for professional development, and links together
the needs of the individual and the school where they are working.
However, Ofsted has found that only 1 in 6 schools have an embedded
system and too often teachers view it with suspicion.
46. We are therefore taking action to improve
teachers' and headteachers' annual appraisals; to issue plainer
guidance on capability procedures; to streamline the threshold
assessment process for experienced teachers passing the "pay
threshold" relying more on school judgements; to open the
debate around performance-related pay; and to improve the link
between performance management and professional development.
47. The aim is for more schools to start
seeing performance management as part of a toolkit to support
school and teacher improvement. This should directly affect staff
retention.
Progression
48. For the experienced and competent teacher,
fresh challenges help them to stay committed and enthusiastic.
In introducing the Advanced Skills Teacher grade (AST) the Government
provided an opportunity for excellent teachers to gain recognition
through enhanced pay and status whilst remaining primarily in
front-line teaching. ASTs have the stimulation of extending their
own experience and skills, because they spend a day a week on
outreach work with their colleagues in their own or other schools.
As one head put it,
"The particularly good thing about the
AST scheme is that it is a very good device for recruiting or
retaining someone that you know is a good teacher. From the school's
perspective, we get a teacher who can act as a best practice role
model that others can observe and learn from on a much longer
term basis than any other existing methods. But it is also good
for the teacher's own career progression as not everyone wants
to go into management, in which case becoming an AST is the only
way to go."
Leadership
49. Retaining school leaders is an important
aspect of overall secondary school retention. Headship is a demanding
job, and heads rightly feel that they carry important responsibilities.
But it is crucial that heads do not feel expected to carry sole
responsibility for all aspects of their school's activities, because
such a load, in a large secondary school, is not sustainable long
term. That is why the concept of distributed leadership is so
important.
50. Distributed leadership builds capacity
within the school and across the school system. It is about developing
leadership and harnessing energy at many levels, adapting structures,
systems and cultures. It releases and extends leadership capacity
now and develops it for the future. In this model, even NQTs can
take some leadership responsibility within their schools from
the beginning of their career, maximising their opportunities
to develop the skills that will make them outstanding school leaders
in the future. And it gives a head the support they need to run
a large and complex organisation.
51. Distributed leadership is a key concept
in the reform and retention agenda. The next phase of reform needs
to be driven by schools which are individually strong and effective
and which come together in powerful and innovative collaborative
groups. Schools cannot be consistently strong, nor can we get
sustained powerful networking without enthusiastic leadership
at every level within the school.
52. School leaders, like other teachers,
need refreshment and challenge at different stages in their careers.
The advice of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL)
have proposed a Leadership Development Framework, built around
five stages of school leadership;
— emergent leadership (when a teacher
begins to take on leadership responsibilities);
— established leadership (heads of
departments and deputy heads);
— entry to headship (including preparation
and induction for headship);
— advanced leadership (maturing leaders
widening their experience); and
— consultant leadership (able and experienced
leaders taking on training, inspection, mentoring and other responsibilities).
53. This framework offers teachers and heads
different supportive routes for career progression, with training
and support programmes on offer at each stage. This ought, in
the medium term, to assist retention.
TARGETED MEASURES
54. The three key national strategies, which
will affect all secondary and many primary teachers, have been
considered above. There are also particular subjects and parts
of the country where the evidence shows that teacher retention
can be difficult, and stages in a teacher's career when they are
likelier to leave.
Shortage subjects
55. Golden hellos and the repayment of teachers'
loans (RTL) were referred to in the section on ITT. RTL in particular
is new, and is an experiment. The scheme has been running for
only eight months, but so far over 5,000 teachers have applied
to join it. By the end of the pilot we expect around 20,000 teachers
to be in the scheme. It is naturally much too early to assess
whether the scheme is aiding retention, but recent research among
trainee teachers showed that 34% of them thought that having their
loan repaid was likely to encourage them to remain in teaching.
56. We are also trying to help teachers
retain the enthusiasm for their subject which, for many, is the
reason they entered teaching in the first place. We issued a consultative
document, "Subject Specialism" in March, and
we will be meeting our external partners, including Ofsted, QCA,
and key partners from the subject areas to discuss this. We will
be looking at mechanisms, in our consultation meetings, of strengthening
the role of subject associations in providing or recommending
CPD programmes, teaching materials, and general support for teachers
in their subject area. The school workforce agenda set out in
"Time for Standards" makes it clear that support
staff also need similar access to subject support.
Parts of the country
57. The vacancy data, and anecdotal evidence,
confirm that teacher retention is harder in some parts of the
country than others. The statistics show vacancy and turnover
levels at their highest in London, especially Inner London, followed
by the South East and Eastern regions. There is a high correlation
with areas of high house prices and general high cost of living.
58. This is recognised through the pay system,
on the recommendations of the independent School Teachers' Review
Body (STRB). This year will see new, higher pay scales for all
categories of teachers in Inner London. These merge the national
scales with London allowances. STRB will be examining outer London
and fringe considerations as part of their longer term examination
of local approaches to pay, with the report on this due in January
2004. Given that the standard of living experienced on a teacher's
wage and the recruitment and retention situation varies from one
part of the country to another, we think there may be scope for
more thinking here. Our evidence to the STRB asked them to consider
as a long term issue how we can move to a position where we better
reflect local differences in costs and rest more responsibility
in the hands of Heads.
59. Affordable housing is a clear concern
for teachers living and working in and around London and the South
East. We continue to work closely alongside the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), who have responsibility for housing
policy. The Starter Homes Initiative has delivered £250 million
of funding helping to support 3,500 teachers in London and the
South East to buy homes in areas of high cost and demand. This
has been followed closely by a £300 million Challenge Fund,
which will build affordable homes for people, including teachers,
in London, the South East and Eastern Regions to rent and buy.
60. The concentration of issues that affect
London, including the particular retention pressures, justify
a tailor made programme of work for the capital. The recently
published document "The London Challenge: Transforming
London Secondary Schools" sets out our strategy for creating
a world-class system of secondary education in London. The wide-ranging
programme of work will be led by the first Commissioner for London
Schools, Tim Brighouse.
61. A crucial part of the London Challenge
is to make London a place where, as in many other professions,
teachers feel they should come if they want to be at the peak
of their profession. At present, while it remains possible to
attract large numbers of teachers to the capital at the start
of their working lives, significant numbers of them do not make
their careers there. The impact of this differs between schools,
but crucial for London as a whole is the reduced pool of potential
middle managers and leaders of the future. Around a third of all
London teachers have less than six years experience, and the age
profile of London teachers shows a significant drop in numbers
in their late 20s and 30s—crucial years for developing middle
management.
62. Evidence suggests that a variety of
factors contribute to this. Crucial are the high costs of living
and particularly the costs of housing. Increases to teachers'
pay (an inner London teacher with no management responsibility
could receive no more than £23,379 in 1997—now, inner
London teachers moving to point 2 of the upper pay spine will
receive £35,673) and the Starter Homes Initiative are beginning
to have an impact on these. In tackling the issue of the weakened
pool of middle leaders, we are working with the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister on a targeted scheme to enable those with
the potential to be leaders of the future in London to afford
family homes.
63. Equally important is to create in London
an education service which acts as a magnet for teachers. There
is no doubt that there are considerable pressures on teachers
in challenging London schools. The London Challenge seeks to strengthen
the system London-wide, addressing challenges of behaviour, strengthening
leadership development and embarking on the biggest programme
of school building and refurbishment for very many years. These
components of the strategy will all have a positive impact on
teaching in London.
64. Equally, we want London to be a place
where teachers are keen to come to develop their careers. We are
developing a new status—"Chartered London Teacher"—to
reward those who complete a programme of professional development
and achieve excellence in the classroom. And through the National
College of School Leadership and the London Leadership Centre,
we are providing opportunities for London teachers at all levels
to develop as leaders. A new cadre of London Commissioner's teachers,
advanced skills teachers recruited and rewarded for working in
the most challenging schools, will act as leaders of the London
system.
Stages in a teaching career
65. It is a truism that new graduates, at
the start of their careers, are the likeliest to switch jobs.
For many, the idea of a lifetime career seems positively unappealing,
beside the freedom to move between different opportunities—including
periods of travel or study. It is therefore not surprising that
teachers are the likeliest to leave the profession in the first
five years of employment. We have already described how programmes
of continuing professional development aim to give particular
support to teachers during their early years.
66. In a working world where flexibility
and job changing have become the norm, it is also important to
enable teachers to find working patterns that they want, and to
switch easily from full time to part time work. There are a number
of examples of positive and proactive work being undertaken in
this area. The Norfolk Staff Well Being Project was set up to
help address some of the work-related health issues causing concern
for its teaching and non-teaching staff and has proved a great
success.
(Further details of the Norfolk Well Being
Project are included as Annex D)
67. Pay is obviously a critical retention
factor at all stages in a teacher's career. Teachers have received
above-inflation annual rises every year since 1997. A good honours
graduate who started teaching in 1997, for example, will have
seen his salary increase by 68% in real terms by April this year.
We believe that this is a good deal for retaining teachers and
successfully balances fairness with affordability, and that the
salary structures now in place provide for a well-motivated and
well-rewarded profession.
68. Until August 2002, teachers usually
reached the top of the main classroom teachers' scale (point 9)
after 7 or 8 years of experience. From September 2002, the scale
was shortened to six points. Teachers who perform well now have
additional opportunities to earn significant pay rises that were
not previously available to them.
69. Excellent teachers are now able to double
jump on the main scale, providing additional financial rewards
to young high-performing teachers. More importantly good experienced
teachers have, since September 2000, been able to apply to "cross
the threshold" and access a higher pay scale, if they can
demonstrate their capabilities against national standards. We
expect head teachers to make recommendations on which teachers
should progress through the upper pay scale. They will base these
decisions on the individual teacher's overall performance as part
of the school's performance management system.
70. Schools may also award additional flat-rate
allowances to teachers for recruitment and retention purposes
which strengthen schools ability to target additional funds in
recruiting, retaining and rewarding excellent teachers.
71. For teachers approaching the end of
their careers, pension entitlements become more important. The
Teachers' Pension Scheme, as a final salary scheme providing an
index-linked range of benefits, is an increasingly attractive
incentive when compared to pension developments elsewhere. In
recent years we have taken action to make the scheme more flexible,
so that teachers who wish to reduce their working week while not
leaving the profession altogether are not disadvantaged. In addition,
pensions may be protected in circumstances where it is necessary
for headteachers, deputy headteachers and teachers in posts of
responsibility to relinquish responsibility where that results
in a reduction of contributable salary. It is also possible for
teachers, after retirement, to work roughly half a normal working
week without affecting their pensions.
72. The Green Paper: Simplicity, security
and choice: Working and saving for retirement and Inland Revenue
proposals on simplification of the tax regime within which pension
schemes operate, offer further opportunities for flexibility.
There may be more options for scheme members to draw pension whilst
continuing or returning to teaching in a lower paid capacity.
It is, however, too early to say what form any such changes might
take.
EFFECT ON
PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS:
CHALLENGED SCHOOLS
73. Schools which are unable to retain high
calibre teachers find it harder to achieve high standards for
their pupils. Ofsted have commented in recent annual reports on
the difficulties faced by schools in areas of high turnover. They
observed in their latest report that secondary headteachers in
such areas seemed increasingly to see the school timetable as
a short-term programme with substantial revisions necessary term
by term. They also noted that frequent changes of staff, associated
with the use of temporary teachers, can militate against the establishment
of good pupil teacher relationships.
74. On the other hand, it is hard to establish
clear cause and effect. It would be equally true to say that schools
with low standards, or poor pupil/teacher relationships, or a
highly unstable timetable, find it harder to recruit and retain
high quality staff. Schools which have high proportions of pupils
who enter with low attainment or with behaviour problems; schools
which have poor and decaying buildings and fabric; and schools
whose leadership and management standards are poor are likelier
to have difficulties with both standards and retention. But it
is certainly not true that this necessarily applies to all schools
serving "tough" areas, or with high proportions of children
entitled to free school meals. There are plenty of examples of
schools which succeed despite these challenges.
75. Our approach has been, as described
in this note: first to ensure a high quality of initial teacher
training throughout the country; second, to provide incentives
for more people to enter teaching, and to remain there, especially
in shortage subjects; and third, to give particular support to
schools where standards are low (and where the Government's reforms
go well beyond the scope of this note).
76. On the latter, there is in particular
a well developed programme of intervention for schools which enter
special measures or serious weaknesses, which has proved itself
over time. The intervention looks at the whole school, rather
than a single aspect of it, such as retention, and recognises
that piecemeal, uncoordinated change will not produce fundamental
improvements in standards. It is worth referring briefly to one
or two other broader policies which may have a significant effect
on retention.
Excellence in Cities
77. Excellence in Cities is a targeted programme
of extra resources for schools facing the particular challenges
of the city. The EiC programme was developed to transform these
schools and provides Learning Mentors, Learning Support Units,
extended opportunities for Gifted and Talented pupils and City
Learning Centres as well as more Beacon and Specialist Schools,
Excellence in Cities Action Zones and opportunities for more pupils
to set their sights at Higher Education through Aim Higher (previously
called Excellence Challenge).
78. EiC has made a step-change in the aspirations
and achievements of many city schools. It has also undoubtedly
played a part to play in retaining teachers who might otherwise
leave the profession—driven out by falling standards and
disruption in classrooms. In EiC schools results are continuing
to improve at a faster rate than in schools elsewhere; as are
standards in behaviour and attendance and a better learning environment
is being created in classrooms for pupils and teachers alike.
79. The latest Ofsted report, Excellence
in Cities and Education Action Zones: Management and Impact, found
that;
"the programmes have helped schools and
teachers to meet the needs of disaffected and vulnerable pupils
more effectively. The report also found that exclusions are being
reduced and attendance is improving at a faster rate in the schools
involved in the programme."
80. As the EiC programme has become more
fully embedded the successes have been more pronounced: The Publication
of the most recent GCSE and Key Stage 3 results has shown that,
for the first time, the achievement gap between schools in EiC
areas (where entrenched socio-economic disadvantage has created
major obstacles to teaching and learning) and those outside the
programme is beginning to close. And as such creating an environment
that will help to retain teachers where we may have previously
lost them.
(Further details on achievements and successes
in EiC are provided as Annex E)
The Leadership Incentive Grant
81. The Leadership Incentive Grant (LIG)
provides groups of schools—called Leadership Collaboratives—with
the opportunity and the funding to work together to:
— accelerate the improvement in standards;
— strengthen leadership at all levels;
and
— build leadership capacity and strengthen
teaching and learning through effective collaborative working.
82. The Grant is allocated to all mainstream
secondary schools with over 35% of students eligible for free
school meals in January 2002, or with under 30% of students achieving
five GCSEs A*-C (or equivalent) in 2002 or 2001, or in Excellence
in Cities (EiC) areas, Education Action Zones (EAZs) or Excellence
Clusters (including Clusters due to start in Sept 2003). Each
school will receive £125,000 LIG funding per year, from April
2003 to March 2006. A supplement to LIG of £50,000 for each
year of the grant will be paid to LIG-eligible schools outside
EiC or EAZs to allow them to develop collaborative working arrangements.
83. The unrelenting focus on teaching and
learning at the heart of LIG is intended to emphasise the importance
of the pupil and teacher as the keys to achieving improved standards.
The emphasis on working collaboratively will have a positive impact
on issues of teacher recruitment and retention, as collaboratives
will be working together to:
— tackle the workforce remodelling
agenda collaboratively;
— provide greater opportunities for
career development in a mix of schools;
— identify and tackle shared priorities
(eg behaviour, attendance, low prior attainment);
— use ASTs across collaborative schools;
— strengthen the training and CPD offer
for all staff (eg teachers at middle management);
— develop a shared and powerful understanding
of how to use VA data to look at a wider picture of achievement;
— speed up the improvement in standards
and support the schools causing concern as they make progress
towards meeting and exceeding the floor targets; and
— developing a shared sense of interdependent
accountability for ensuring that all pupils have access to real
educational opportunities.
CONCLUSION
84. This memorandum has necessarily concentrated
on the Government's policies and initiatives to improve retention.
But underlying all of this is the fact that teachers work in schools,
and that much of their job satisfaction depends on the working
environment and colleagues that they meet there. For every school
that finds it hard to recruit and retain teachers, there is another,
in apparently very similar circumstances, that succeeds in doing
so. The differences are usually to be found in the calibre and
style of the school's leadership; the sense of purpose and collegiality
that they foster; their commitment to developing and involving
their staff. The initiatives described in this memorandum—on
workload, behaviour, professional development, leadership and
so forth—are intended to help schools and those who run
them. But they will not work by themselves. Every school, as an
employer, must take its own responsibilities for the way it manages
its employees.
85. That said, the overall picture on retention
is encouraging. We are confident that we know the principal reasons
why those teachers who leave the profession are doing so, and
we are confident that we have the right policy initiatives in
place to reduce that to a healthy level. There are clearly big
challenges that remain for particular schools and for certain
areas of the country, and teaching is perhaps inevitably no longer
viewed as a job for life by all those who enter the profession.
However, there are very exciting prospects in teaching at present
and our data suggests that the whole school system is moving in
the right direction.
| 
