Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Education sector suffers lower long-term teacher retention compared to other public and private sectors.
Conclusion
We asked the Department what it was doing to understand why fewer people stay working in the education sector compared with other sectors – 38% of those who had worked within the education sector at some point between the ages of 17 and 29 were still doing so at age 30, compared with 44% in health, 48% in the public sector as a whole and 49% in the private sector. The Department told us it had done some significant work looking at “cross-fertilisation between parts of the education sector”, and that it was considering learning from the health sector on how it could make it easier for people to build careers but accepted that it could do more.46
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.2 The government gathers data through the longitudinal Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders study, which examines the intention to leave among the existing workforce and the experiences of those who have left the profession. 5.3 Through the Improving Education Together partnership, the department is working with the sector to help improve teacher retention across schools and colleges, including developing a workload reduction toolkit with the Association of Colleges. To support workload reduction, the government is exploring how AI and digital tools can transform teaching and learning, including reducing the burden of lesson planning, marking, feedback, and assessment. The EdTech Impact Testbed pilot will enable schools and colleges to test edtech products, including AI, helping to identify and generate evidence of tools that reduce workload by saving time and improving efficiency. This approach aims to free up teacher time, improve job satisfaction, and support retention across both schools and colleges.