The idea that teaching is a lifelong career has been “blown” amid the dramatic rise in teachers leaving the profession, the chief executive of a mental health charity has told Tes.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Sinead Mc Brearty of Education Support called for “bold steps” to change the culture of teaching.
This is needed “to make education an attractive career for the long term - to make it something that people do as more than a military-style tour of duty, which is the direction of travel we’re headed in”, she added.
Her comments follow government data revealing that the number of state school teachers leaving the profession hit the highest rate in four years last year.
Speaking as part of a panel discussing what should be included in the upcoming Conservative manifesto, Ms Mc Brearty also said that she would like manifesto pledges to look at an “overhauling” of the accountability system.
Expanding on the similarities between schools and military environments after the panel debate, she told Tes: “Military tours are...six months to four years...the hallmark is you’re in a hostile environment. It’s very intense.
“There is a recognition that it takes a significant toll on somebody. And at the end of the tour...you reassess and you think, can I do another tour or do I stop now and go back to civilian life and do something that is less depleting?”
Working more than 55 hours a week “presents a significant danger to your health” but has become “normalised” in teaching, she added.
Pointing to the number of teachers who leave the profession early on in their careers, she said: “I think the idea of teaching as a lifelong career has blown...that’s gone”.
Teacher retention
Ms Mc Brearty also warned that the implications of teachers leaving before seven years, when they “really hit their best work”, are yet to be understood.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan was meant to appear on the panel but pulled out shortly before it began.
Speaking at the fringe event alongside Ms Mc Brearty, Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said that if we want to make the “best use of taxpayer funding”, the issue of teacher retention had to be addressed.
Last month, Tes revealed that the government would refresh its teacher recruitment and retention strategy, with officials drawing up plans to review its workforce approach for a post-Covid world with a focus on flexible working.
