Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 38
38
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 151
Require collection and publication of teacher attrition data by subject and reason
Conclusion
The Department should collect and publish data on the attrition of teachers by subject, particularly those in their first 5 years of teaching. Data should also be collected on the reason teachers are leaving, to improve understanding of why particular subjects are experiencing higher attrition than others and to help target retention strategies as effectively as possible.
Government Response Summary
The government stated it already publishes subject leaver rates and will explore publishing more granular subject-level data as part of future School Workforce Census publications. They collect reasons for leaving nationally but do not publish them at subject level due to small sample sizes.
Paragraph Reference:
151
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
We currently publish subject leaver rates within the annual postgraduate ITT targets publication4. These are calculated to aid the Teacher Workforce Model supply calculations and the residual PGITT targets. We will explore publishing subject level leaver rates as part of future School Workforce Census publications. The Department already collects survey data from the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders5 longitudinal study on the reasons teachers give for considering leaving, and for leaving for those that leave teaching between survey waves. This is published annually at national level. We do not publish reasons for leaving at subject level due to small sample sizes. We also collect data on the FE workforce via the FE workforce data collection, which goes out to providers annually. This provides the department with important information on the sector, such as demographics, pay data, vacancies, and subject taught. Teacher vacancy rates are published online with subject and regional breakdowns.