Responding to three new reports from the Education Endowment
Foundation on strategies to support teacher recruitment and
retention, including flexible working, Paul Whiteman, general
secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:
“Flexible working has the potential to support staff retention,
but alone it is not a silver bullet for addressing the growing
recruitment and retention crisis.
"The government should be focused on first-order issues including
pay, workload and the impact of high stakes inspection on
health and wellbeing, all of which drive not only teachers, but
also school leaders from the profession. What’s needed is a
positive proposition to support decades-long careers.
“Barriers to flexible working include the pressures
of accountability and inspection, higher staffing costs, and
the need to find time for handover and collaboration amid already
heavy workloads.
“By taking seriously its commitments to fundamentally reviewing
Ofsted inspections and addressing unsustainable workload, as well
as ensuring schools get the sustained long-term investment they
desperately need, the government can help give schools greater
scope to consider flexible arrangements. While we agree inspiring
leadership can be vital in boosting staff morale, even the most
natural leaders need a system which truly supports them.
“We also need to see solutions to the recruitment and retention
issues affecting leadership, with government figures showing
nearly a third of senior school leaders leave their post within 5
years of appointment, of whom more than half go on to leave
the state-funded school system.”
