Staff who have poor views of their school leaders in November are more likely to leave their jobs by the summer, research has found.
A study by Professor John Jerrim, research director at ImpactEd and professor at University College London’s Institute of Education, has found that the school staff who had the lowest opinion of the quality of their school leadership in November had a 30 per cent chance of leaving their role by June.
The findings are based on data collected through The Engagement Platform (TEP) from more than 4,000 members of school staff in England.
The TEP asks school employees a series of questions about the leadership of their school and asks them to provide a 1-10 score based on how positive their answers are. Staff are then given an overall score.
Staff whose views of school leadership gave them a score of between zero and two in November had a 30 per cent chance of leaving at the end of that academic year.
Staff rating leadership quality at six or above had just a five per cent chance of leaving by summer.
Those who rated leadership quality between three and five had a 12 per cent chance of leaving eight months later.
The study states this suggests “it is mainly when staff hold very negative views of the leadership that they act quickly to leave their job”.
Similarly, Professor Jerrim found a correlation between staff perceptions of leadership quality and job satisfaction - the higher quality staff perceive leadership to be in autumn, the higher their reported job satisfaction in June.
The research can help school leaders intervene and retain teachers by monitoring these trends early on, researchers have said.
Professor Jerrim said the study shows “clear evidence” of a link between staff engagement and behaviour.
“So whilst workload, funding and accountability might be out of the sphere of influence of many school leaders, equipping them with engagement data and showing perceptions of leadership and buy-in, gives our sector leaders something very actionable to work with,” he said.
This research comes amid the ongoing teacher recruitment and retention crisis. The latest data available showed that of the 21,705 teachers who qualified in 2022, 2,543 (11.3 per cent) left after one year.
ImpactEd group director Dr Chris Wilson said the predictive factors found in the study “should be seen as a powerful new tool in the school improvement armour, as the sector seeks to retain the best talent in our classrooms.”
Future research should investigate these trends over longer time periods, Professor Jerrim said.
Professor Jerrim and a group of school system leaders have also launched wider research to find out whether student engagement in school corresponds to future attendance and attainment.
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