The government should target teacher pay rises at those most risk of those leaving the profession, according to a new report that warns large numbers are likely to quit when the economy recovers from the Covid-19 crisis.

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) report claims that the government’s approach to pay is outdated, inflexible and may lead to more teachers choosing to leave.

It suggests the government needs to give headteachers more flexibility to be able to respond to local pay levels and says it is harder to retain teachers in areas where there is a larger gap between their salary and what people could earn in other similar professions.

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However, union leaders responding to the report have said that what is needed is a significant across-the-board pay rise for the profession after years of real-terms cuts.

The EPI think tank warns that not only will an improving job market result in many teachers moving to alternative, higher-paid jobs, but the government’s approach to setting salaries, together with its lack of incentives for teachers to remain in the profession, could exacerbate the problem.

Teacher recruitment and retention: Call to target pay rises

Figures published last year show that the government met its secondary teacher training target for the first time in eight years, signifying a boost in interest in the profession driven by the Covid crisis.

However, the EPI report notes that since then, the DfE has “began to roll back the financial incentives that were designed to encourage recruitment and support retention”.

The report says that the government cut bursaries by up to 75 per cent in some subjects, dropped the planned retention payments for new initial teacher training (ITT) entrants, and postponed its ambition to lift starting salaries to £30,000.

A summary of the report says that “the subsequent economic recovery could result in a large proportion of this new intake quitting for other occupations”.

A co-author of the report and the EPI’s director of school workforce, James Zuccollo, said: “After seeing a boost to teacher numbers following the pandemic, many of those who recently joined may now leave as the economy recovers. The government must do all it can to retain this large influx of new teachers.

“Our research shows that reforming pay to make teacher salaries more adaptable at a local level may be an effective way to do this.

“We need to give headteachers genuine flexibility so they can offer attractive salaries that are able to compete with other occupations.” 

The report says that targeted top-up salary payments are shown to be highly effective at persuading teachers to stay.   

It suggests that recruitment and retention problems could be improved by targeted pay rises at those most at risk of leaving the profession: those in shortage subjects, those in challenging schools, and those in areas with high-paying alternative occupations.

It highlights how many parts of England struggle to attract and keep hold of teachers because of large local “pay gaps”, with competing occupations offering higher salaries on average - for example, over £5,000 (11 per cent) more in areas around London. 

Researchers argue that closing these local pay gaps between teaching and non-teaching jobs is key to improving teacher supply. They found that reducing the pay gap by 10 per cent in the worst-affected regions would result in as many as 720 extra teachers in the local workforce. 

However, it says that current government policy for teacher pay offers little flexibility and prevents headteachers in these regions from being able to adjust salaries so that they are able to compete with higher-paying occupations. 

The Association of School and College Leaders’ general secretary, Geoff Barton, said: “We agree that there’s a significant danger of new teachers quitting for other jobs as the economy recovers and that the benefits of the upturn in teacher numbers could be quickly lost. Competitive pay is therefore clearly a crucial element in reducing this risk.

“This makes it all the more unfathomable that the government has declared its intention to freeze the pay of teachers in the academic year starting in September, which is effectively a pay cut in real terms.

“Not only is this a kick in the teeth for long-standing staff who have worked incredibly hard to support their pupils during the course of the pandemic, but it is an active disincentive to both them and to new recruits to stay in the profession. 

“The EPI report discusses targeted top-up salary payments and flexibility for higher pay in local labour markets. However, the main problem is that years of government-imposed real-terms cuts to the pay of teachers and leaders has eroded the competitiveness of teaching as a career choice in general, and has also been extremely damaging to retention.

“This needs to be addressed through a significant across-the-board increase in pay which is fully funded by the government in order to ensure that schools have the numbers of teachers they need and that they are able to retain experienced staff. “

Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union, said: “There is ample evidence that localised pay rates and the use of top-up incentives have not secured long-term retention.

“The government has also failed to address the discriminatory impact of the pay system, which has led to widening pay inequality to the detriment of women and black and minority ethnic teachers. 

“Across the board, the government’s failure to invest in teachers has resulted in an 18 per cent real-terms decline in teachers’ pay over the past decade, which is contributing directly to the retention crisis in schools.

“While teachers’ salaries continue to lag behind those in other graduate professions, we will struggle to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of teachers across all subjects and phases.

“Raising the pay levels of all teachers would make a significant contribution to resolving the teacher retention crisis and securing the education recovery that children and young people need.”