The challenges of teacher recruitment and retention are not new. In fact, it’s been a topic of conversation since I first started as a fresh-faced NQT in 2004. So why, almost 20 years later, is it still such an issue for the teaching profession and will it ever go away?

Hmmm. I feel that’s the million-dollar question.

And one that must have prompted the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) to undertake its most recent research into recruitment and retention, specifically focusing on teacher workload, flexible working and school leadership. For change to happen, we have to fundamentally know what’s going on at the chalk face. Something that many people have tried - and failed - to do.

Teachers leaving the profession in droves is so common now that we barely blink when someone on the team announces they’ve had enough. It doesn’t make it any less sad, though. And more often than not, it’s the great teachers who throw in the tea towel and head off to pastures new - those who seem to build great connections to their pupils as easily as breathing. 

And that makes me even sadder - and a bit bloomin’ angry, if truth be told. Because kids today need teachers like these. Teachers who are great role models and educators. Adults who believe in them, motivate them and care about them regardless of their background or circumstances. Often because of them.

My husband is one of these teachers. 

When recruitment and retention isn’t a problem

Husband has been teaching for 25 years. And for the past 5 of them, he’s been at a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). You know, a school where the ‘naughty kids’ go - if that were actually true. 

Which, of course, it isn’t. 

It’s a school for children who’ve been permanently excluded for various reasons, but it’s also a provision for children with medical needs or who need respite.

Just like any school, no day is the same. But in Husband’s case, his days are so enormously different that when he relays some of the stories to me, I think he’s kidding. 

Which, of course, he isn’t.

He teaches kids with the most desperate home lives. Kids who are struggling with their identities. Kids who have attempted suicide and are learning to walk and talk again. Kids who are running county lines. Kids whose parents have been killed in accidents or who simply don’t want them anymore. Kids who’ve been abused. Kids who go missing for days at a time, and he finds them sleeping on the street. 

I could go on.

But all of these kids have one thing in common. They’ve been let down, in one way or another, by mainstream education. 

They’ve been rejected.

And so it’s Husband’s job - and his team’s - to show them they’re accepted, included and loved. To show them that they won’t be turned away despite what’s gone before. But more often than not, the kids arrive and don’t want any of what’s on offer. The rejected become the rejectors. Husband is called unprintable names or is threatened. Kids threaten and fight each other, too. Police are called.

Day after day after day. 

But the incredible thing is that Husband’s school has no retention crisis. In fact, the only recruitment that’s happened since he’s been there is due to retirement or expansion. They’ve recently had a successful Ofsted inspection, too.

So…WTAF? As the youth would say.

School culture is the key

As the research from the EEF points out, school culture can make a big difference to recruitment and retention problems. Husband works in KS3, and when I asked him what he thought helped him cope with the barrage of stress, he said it was simply the fact that at the end of each day, the team sat down and offloaded together. 

Nobody went home without having had an opportunity to talk about the fact that a kid had told them repeatedly to ‘f**k off’ all day or had escaped out the window. 

There’s also a culture of support, humour and laughter - or what the EEF describes as ‘relational trust’. No team member is left to bottle up their frustrations or emotions either - as they have fortnightly supervision from an educational psychologist. 

As the EEF report highlights:

“Cezmi and Toprak examined the relationship between leadership behaviours and teacher commitment, using a sample of 1,469 primary teachers in Turkey. The study suggested that school leadership behaviours can influence teacher commitment through promoting a positive school climate. Fair and supportive leadership that nurtures mutual relational trust helps to improve the school climate positively.”

At Husband’s school, there’s also a good degree of teacher autonomy, which adds to their job satisfaction. They’re given opportunities to learn and improve their professional development, too. All of which boosts their enjoyment of what is, at its core, an incredibly stressful job. 

Of course, not everything is unicorn and rainbows at Husband’s school. And he doesn’t have the planning and marking workload that mainstream teachers have. Still, it’s interesting to consider what does work when it comes to recruitment and retention, particularly in a setting as challenging as his. 

So what does this mean for your school? 

Culture matters. It’s the difference between people staying or going, joining or not even applying. We underestimate its importance because ‘teaching being tough’ is often seen as ‘par for the course’, and if you don’t like it, you can lump it. There’ll be more fresh-faced, innocent ECTs coming through anyway, right?

Yikes!

But this cycle can only go on so long. A big clue when looking at a school to work at is how young and inexperienced the staff are. If there are no experienced teachers, it often indicates two things: 1) no opportunities for progression or 2) the culture stinks. Or even worse, both. 

Getting the culture right is imperative for so many reasons. But with teacher recruitment and retention problems at a worrying high, you can’t afford not to.

If you’d like support with improving the culture in your school, get in touch with our Doug - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and he’ll share how we can help you.

This blog post has been kept anonymous to protect Husband’s privacy and the school's.