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Only 24% of young teachers plan to stay long-term

Only 24% of young teachers plan to stay long-term

More than one in 10 young teachers are spending 25 hours a week or more working overtime

3rd December 2018, 10:00am

Less than a quarter of young teachers say they expect to stay in teaching long term, a conference organised by the NASUWT teaching union has heard.

Pay and excessive workload are the biggest reasons why young teachers say they may leave the profession.

At an NASUWT conference for teachers aged 30 and under held in Birmingham this weekend, a real-time electronic poll of the 110 delegates found:

Less than a quarter (24 per cent) said they think they will definitely stay in teaching long-term. Six per cent said they only expected to be in the profession for another year;

Of those teachers who are considering leaving in the short or medium term, the main reasons were pay, workload, lack of work-life balance and worsening pupil behaviour;

More than one in 10 (12 per cent) teachers say they spend more than 25 hours a week working outside school hours. And 44 per cent said they spent between 10 and 20 hours a week working overtime on average;

Forty-four per cent say pupil indiscipline is a major issue in their school. Only a quarter say they feel completely supported by their school to deal with pupil indiscipline.

“Young teachers are the future of the profession and it is vital they are nurtured and supported to remain in teaching,” Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said.

“However, it is clear that for too many the increasingly uncompetitive nature of their pay, the relentless workload pressures and the lack of support to deal with pupil indiscipline may force them from the profession in the coming years.

“The number of young teachers leaving the profession within the first years of their careers is unsustainable.

“Young teachers will continue to vote with their feet until decisive action is taken by ministers and employers to make teaching a sustainable and attractive life-long career.”

The poll comes just days after official statistics revealed that the government had missed its teacher-training targets in all but secondary subjects except PE, biology, English and history.

The DfE has been contacted for comment.