A third of school teachers and leaders have said they are considering leaving teaching in the next 12 months for reasons other than retirement, a Department for Education survey has found.
The two most commonly cited reasons for considering leaving - highlighted by nine out of 10 people - are high workload and stress or poor wellbeing.
The findings are revealed in the latest Working lives of teachers and leaders 2024, published on Thursday by the DfE, which outlines the views of more than 10,000 teachers and leaders.
The figure for those considering leaving is lower than the 36 per cent who said the same in 2023, but higher than the 25 per cent who submitted that response in 2022.
Teacher and leader wellbeing
The number citing workload reduced by three percentage points from 2023, while the number citing stress or poor wellbeing increased by six percentage points.
The DfE report highlights that of those staff who had reported considering leaving in 2023, 15 per cent had done so by 2024. This compares with 12 per cent who were considering leaving in 2022 and had left by 2023.
The findings, based on a survey carried out between January and May this year, also show that one in five teachers and leaders who were considering leaving cited having experienced bullying or harassment as a reason - up from 15 per cent a year earlier.
Almost half of all teachers and leaders (49 per cent) reported that they were satisfied with their jobs either most or all of the time. This was an increase from 46 per cent in 2023, but remained lower than the 58 per cent seen in 2022.
The proportion of teachers and leaders who enjoyed classroom teaching most or all of the time has declined from 84 per cent in 2022 and 79 per cent in 2023 to 78 per cent in 2024.
The report also highlights the number of teachers with flexible working arrangements. The proportion reporting having an arrangement in place was the same as last year (46 per cent) but up on 40 per cent in 2022.
Part-time working remained the most common flexible working arrangement, at 21 per cent, but the prevalence of a number of other arrangements has increased since 2022.
This includes being allowed planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time off-site, which was 15 per cent compared with 12 per cent in 2022, or ad-hoc days starting late or finishing early, which was highlighted by 13 per cent in 2024 compared with 7 per cent in 2022.
’Work needs to be done’
Responding to the report, NEU teaching union general secretary Daniel Kebede described the findings on workload and wellbeing as a “damning indictment of the previous government’s failure to support young learners by ensuring teachers and leaders have manageable jobs”.
He added: “Poor wellbeing driven by unsustainable workload and working hours are driving dedicated professionals out of the classroom.
“Work needs to be done with the profession to address these critical issues alongside ensuring increased PPA time, flexible working and pay.”
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