Teaching Crisis Looms with 90% set to quit the classroom before they retire

• Just one in ten plan to stay in teaching – with most driven out by bad management and pupil behaviour
• Two out of three teachers found technology helpful during the pandemic
• One in three teachers thought engagement with parents had been more positive since the health crisis
• Parents engaged more with schools over wellbeing than academic issues

FEWER than one in ten teachers plan to stay in their jobs until retirement.

Just nine per cent of teachers said they would only leave teaching on retirement – a figure that remained the same across the state and private school sectors.

A wide-ranging survey of 4,690 teachers by Teacher Tapp for Bett 2022, the world’s biggest education technology event showed that parental engagement had become more positive with schools in the wake of the pandemic peak, with more carers asking the schools more about well-being than any other topic.

Teachers also overwhelmingly found education technology more of a help than a hindrance during the pandemic, with two-thirds saying they found the platforms and apps connecting students and schools helpful or very helpful.

POOR BEHAVIOUR AND LACKLUSTRE LEADERSHIP

In a survey for Bett 2022, teachers were asked aside from hours, pay and conditions, what would be the biggest issue which would most drive them away from the classroom.

Problems with their superiors and management teams were the biggest factor in making teachers decide to quit, with 34 per cent of teachers citing it as their main push factor.

Private school teachers were a lot more likely to be driven out by management problems – with 49 per cent reporting it as the biggest deciding factor compared to 32 per cent in the state sector.

Pupil behaviour was the second greatest contributor to forcing teachers out – with 18 per cent citing this as their top reason.

Secondary teachers – 25 per cent – were more than twice as likely to quit because of pupil behaviour than primary teachers – 12 per cent.

Just eight per cent of private school teachers would quit over behaviour compared to 19 per cent of state teachers.

Shifting expectations on curriculum delivery was cited by 15 per cent of teachers while pressure from government to catch up pupils was the biggest motivator to quit for ten per cent.

Parental pressure would be the main reason to quit for just six per cent of teachers – although more than twice as many private school teachers cited this – 11 per cent – compared to state – 5 per cent.

EDTECH

Around two-thirds of teachers have found EdTech helpful or very helpful during the pandemic.

As lessons and timetabling switched online, teachers had to quickly roll out new ways of learning, getting to grips with technology that they may have barely used at all before.

Some 63 per cent of primary teachers said they found the technology helpful or helpful while in secondary schools, the number was 68 per cent.

Just five per cent of all teachers thought EdTech had not helped them in the pandemic.

PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT

One positive factor that has emerged from the pandemic is that teachers reported greater constructive parental engagement.

One in three teachers found parents engaged with them more constructively since the pandemic, whereas 20 per cent said that engagement had become less constructive.

Almost half of teachers saw no change in the level of engagement.

Parents were most concerned about wellbeing and mental health, followed closely by academic results, curriculum, wanting to understand the exams process and engaging teachers over administrative issues and logistics such as timetabling.

Headteachers were more likely to engage with parents over wellbeing and mental health (37 per cent) compared to classroom teachers (24 per cent).

The survey was conducted by Teacher Tapp for Bett 2022, the biggest educational technology show in the world. Thousands of teachers and education leaders are set to attend the show, which takes place at London’s ExCeL centre on March 23-25.

Eve Harper, director of Bett, said: “Our research shows the huge strain that the pandemic has placed on teachers. We must future-proof our education system by using technology to take pressure away from teachers.

“There are solutions out there that can take away some of the administrative and repetitive burdens. There are also technological advances that can inspire and fuel a love for learning. This is underlined in our findings, that two-thirds of teachers found EdTech helpful or very helpful.

“Parents probably remember their school days being filled with teachers struggling with overhead projectors. Those days are long gone and it seems that teachers have become digital whizzes, mastering a plethora of platforms and apps within weeks.

“Nothing can replace a teacher though and it is for all of us, school leaders, parents and innovators, to show them they’re valued..”

Research for Bett published recently (January) also showed that teachers feared pupils had been left at least 18 months behind by the pandemic.

Ends.

• The Bett Show takes place at London’s ExCeL on March 23-25, 2022
• For more information, see https://uk.bettshow.com
• A list of confirmed speakers is here: https://uk.bettshow.com/speakers
• The full agenda can be found here: https://uk.bettshow.com/agenda
• For media and press enquiries, contact Gerri Peev at [email protected] or [email protected]