Offering financial incentives such as higher salaries and bonuses could be an effective way to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, particularly in disadvantaged schools, a review of global evidence suggests.
Researchers from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) also found that strategies to reduce workload and improve working conditions were associated with improved retention.
Access to professional development, induction support and effective school leadership also show potential in supporting recruitment and retention, according to the review.
The paper comes in the same week that the Commission on Teacher Retention warned that a quarter of secondary teachers working in the government’s disadvantaged Education Improvement Areas say they are unlikely to be in the profession in five years’ time.
The commission also said there was “no single driver of teacher retention, nor one silver bullet to fix it”, warning that salary rises alone would not stem the flow of teachers leaving the sector.
Today’s “rapid evidence assessment” from the EEF looked at 55 pieces of research into factors associated with recruitment or retention of either quality teachers, teachers in disadvantaged schools or both.
The research included a study in Chile that explored the effects of awarding greater bonuses to teachers working in disadvantaged schools.
Another, which took place in England, interviewed long-serving teachers working in challenging circumstances about their experiences to understand why they might have stayed in post.
The review finds that incentives have been used with different levels of success across different countries, but that financial rewards given directly to teachers - rather than allocated to their school of employment - show “particular promise”.
Looking beyond financial incentives, heavier workloads were consistently associated with higher staff turnover, with factors such as working hours and leave entitlement strongly influencing teachers’ decision making.
Access to professional development, induction support and effective school leadership also show potential in supporting recruitment and retention, according to the review.
The report says that research shows that after children’s background, teacher quality is a “key influence” on pupil attainment.
“Sustained access to high-quality teachers is a significant challenge in England,” the report said. It quoted figures showing that 30 per cent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years and 40 per cent leave within 10 years.
“Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers in disadvantaged schools is a particularly urgent need.”
The EEF has pointed out that applications for initial teacher training have fallen by a fifth compared with pre-Covid levels, while schools are posting 93 per cent more vacancies than before the pandemic.
The report draws predominantly on international research as very few studies have taken place in English contexts, the EEF said, adding that it wants to “supercharge the evidence base” in this area through a “multi-year research agenda focused on strategies for improving recruitment and retention” such as flexible working and workload management.
Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “Today’s report is an important first step in our work to understand more about what can be done to attract teachers to, and keep them in, schools with pupils who need their expertise most.
“These findings will be hugely helpful in sharpening the focus of our future research, making sure we put our resources behind trialling strategies with the greatest potential to make a difference in this crucial area.”
Dr Becky Taylor, principal research fellow at UCL’s Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research, and lead author of the review, said: “Through this review we have identified new and promising areas for future research into teacher recruitment and retention.
“Many of these areas, such as the role of effective school leaders in recruitment and retention of teachers, or the use of induction and mentoring, have not yet been investigated at scale in England and we are looking forward to seeing what research develops from these themes.”
