Commenting on EPI's new tool which finds that multi-academy
trusts (MATs) have higher teacher turnover than other school
groups, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
“It does students no good to be taught by three different
teachers in a given subject within the space of a year, often
with no specialism in the area they are teaching. This is now,
sadly, commonplace. That is why the recruitment and retention
crisis is such an urgent issue for the present and any future
government.
“The EPI highlights that this problem is even greater within
multi-academy trusts, which is yet further evidence that the
obsession with forcing schools into trusts has nothing to do with
what is best for education. There has been a fundamental failure
by successive Conservative governments to make teaching
attractive and paid well enough for people to stay. The expansion
of academies has been at the heart of this failure.
“EPI is right to call attention to the problem of an inspection
and accountability system that is largely indifferent to the
individual circumstances of different schools and pupil
demographics. We need a fundamental change in this system to
ensure that decisions are taken in the best interests of schools,
pupils and their communities. This would include replacing
Ofsted.”
