More than a third of teachers and school leaders in state schools said they were considering quitting the sector over the next 12 months, government data has revealed.
The number - 36 per cent - who were thinking of leaving the profession is revealed in the latest Department for Education’s Working lives of teachers and leaders survey, carried out last year and published yesterday.
The main reason cited by teachers and school leaders was high workload, with 94 per cent saying it was an important factor.
The proportion of school teachers and leaders looking to leave over the next 12 months was up from 25 per cent in 2022.
The DfE findings are based on responses from more than 10,000 school staff.
The department also gauged the views of 442 people who had left the profession.
Job satisfaction for those who have left the sector was significantly higher, at 68 per cent, compared with just 17 per cent for those remaining in schools.
Those who left state schools reported more acceptable workloads, greater satisfaction with pay and less stress in their work.
Dissatisfaction over pay before deal was struck
The DfE survey was carried out during the period of teacher strikes in 2023, and before the government and teaching unions settled on a 6.5 per cent pay rise for teachers in July of last year
In the responses, 20 per cent of teachers and leaders said they were happy with the salary they received, while 69 per cent disagreed with the statement that they were satisfied with their salary.
Dissatisfaction with pay was an increasingly important factor that teachers and leaders cited when considering leaving, rising to 63 per cent from 57 per cent the previous year.
Workload levels unacceptable to majority
The survey also found that 54 per cent of teachers and leaders thought their workload was “unacceptable” and that they did “not have sufficient control over it”.
General administrative tasks, such as communication, paperwork and work emails, remained the highest drain on teacher and middle leader time, with 75 per cent of teachers saying they spent “too much” time on these tasks.
The majority (62 per cent) of senior leaders felt that they spent too much time responding to government policy, but this was down on 2022’s figure of 67 per cent.
Negative impact on physical and mental health
Poor stress or poor wellbeing was the second most influential factor for those considering leaving the sector, with 84 per cent listing it.
Both teachers and leaders felt that their job took a toll on their wellbeing, with 63 per cent saying that work negatively impacted their mental health (compared with 56 per cent last year).
Almost half of respondents (44 per cent) said they felt highly anxious when asked about their feelings on the previous day.
However, views on how schools supported their wellbeing were more positive, with 61 per cent saying that their manager was considerate of their work-life balance.
Teacher views ‘not valued’ by government
Just 12 per cent of teachers and leaders believed that the teaching profession was valued by society and just 4 per cent said that teachers and views were valued by policymakers.
However, a larger number of teachers and leaders (65 per cent) said that they felt valued by their school.
The survey was carried out between 2 February and 11 May 2023.
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