Four in 10 teachers would not go back into the profession if they had the chance to start their career over, a new poll seen by Tes reveals.
A survey of more than 1,000 teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders in schools by YouGov also shows that nearly half of the respondents say they would actively discourage others from becoming a teacher.
It also shows that more senior teachers including department heads and heads of year were the least likely to say they would start again in teaching if they had the chance.
A headteachers’ leader has said the data highlighted the urgent need for the government to “relieve the extraordinary pressure” on teachers to make the job more sustainable as a career.
The new poll asked respondents: “Imagining you had the choice again, would you still choose to become a teacher?”
Overall, 43 per cent of respondents said they would and 40 per cent said they would not, with the remainder saying they didn’t know.
A breakdown of the responses received by YouGov shows that respondents described as senior teachers such as department heads or heads of year were the least likely to say they would go into teaching again.
Among this group, 48 per cent said they would not want to go into teaching again and 37 per cent said they would.
YouGov also asked whether they would encourage others to go into the teaching profession.
Almost half of the respondents from English schools (45 per cent) said they would actively discourage others from becoming teachers.
This figure was slightly higher for respondents in state schools (46 per cent).
A third of respondents said they would neither encourage or discourage people from becoming a teacher and just one in five (20 per cent) said they would encourage others to become a teacher.
The findings come after schools minister Robin Walker described how he is “determined to make England the best place in the world to be a teacher”.
Writing in Tes to mark Thank a Teacher Day yesterday, Mr Walker said the DfE’s efforts to reform “teacher development” would underpin this ambition.
For its poll, YouGov also asked how likely it was that people would still be working as teachers in five years’ time.
The majority of respondents said that it was likely that they would still be a teacher in 2027.
The responses show that 22 per cent said it was very likely; 33 per cent said it was fairly likely; 20 per cent said it was not very likely; 15 per cent said that it was not likely at all and 9 per cent said they didn’t know.
The proportions were almost identical for all responses from English schools and those just from state schools.
The YouGov research was carried out between 14-26 April and had responses from more than 1,000 teachers.
Paul Whiteman the general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union said: ”This latest poll conducted by YouGov chimes with NAHT’s own research”
In December 2021, its survey of more than 2,000 leaders found fewer than a third (30 per cent) stated would recommend school leadership as a career goal and over half (53 per cent) of assistant and deputy heads said they do not aspire to headship.
Mr Whiteman added : “This is demonstrative of the retention crisis that is afflicting our profession.”
He said this also reflects the worrying trend uncovered when the union requested annual data from the DfE detailing the number of headteachers, assistants and deputy heads who leave their job within five years.
Mr Whiteman added: ”We urgently need the government to work with us to build a new, fair deal on pay, workload and accountability, to relieve the extraordinary pressures on the profession and make a lifelong career in education attractive and sustainable.”
Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union said: “The findings of the latest YouGov poll of teachers comes as no surprise. The constant refrain from teachers remains that workload is through the roof, and the dial has not shifted in spite of the warm words of successive education secretaries.
“The profession knows that this is not sustainable. We remain a profession with amongst the highest number of unpaid working hours, and we are still well above the international average for hours worked by teachers.
Mr Courtney said the government is “the main protagonist in the situation, creating much unnecessary work for already hard-working teachers.” He said teachers who leave or threaten to leave the profession invariably cite “a punitive and deeply flawed inspection system, as well as the effects of real-terms cuts not just to pay but to school funding.”
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of Schools and College Leavers urged the government to take notice of the poll’s findings.
He added: ”Teaching is an engaging and uplifting career. There are few things as fulfilling as working with and seeing the achievements of young people.
“However, as this poll reflects, there are a number of pressures which are morale-sapping and ultimately unsustainable. The government subjects schools and colleges to an excessively harsh accountability system. It underfunds them but then expects them to do more with less.
“It has presided over the erosion of salaries over the past decade and has made them increasingly uncompetitive with other graduate professions.” Mr Barton said this was reversible but needs “the government to recognise just how corrosive these pressures are and the impact this has on recruitment and retention. We hope it takes notice of this poll.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: ”We are incredibly grateful for the continued efforts of teachers and school leaders in supporting pupils, especially over the last two years. We now have over 460,000 inspiring teachers in our classrooms across the country, which is 20,000 more than in 2010.
“We are taking action to support teachers to stay in the profession and thrive. This includes investing £760,000 in a new mental health support scheme for school leaders, and launching the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter which commits to reducing unnecessary teacher workload, championing flexible working and improving access to wellbeing resources.”
