Colleagues’ support key to keeping school staff in post

Support from colleagues is the single biggest reason cited by school staff for remaining in post, outstripping pay, leadership and career progression, a survey has revealed.

Edurio’s survey of 110,673 staff in England also revealed that passion for the profession and feeling valued are also among the top reasons staff choose to stay in their roles.

The company, which conducts surveys of staff, pupils and parents on behalf of schools, has published three reports on its latest survey.

Here’s what we learned…

1. Support from colleagues helps keeps staff in post

For the first time, this year’s survey asked staff what made them want to stay in post.

Support from colleagues was cited by 68 per cent of staff, followed by passion for the profession (59 per cent), feeling valued (51 per cent), financial stability and a supportive line manager (both 48 per cent).

When asked about factors that made them want to leave, 44 per cent cited feeling undervalued, while 42 per cent said overwhelming workload.

Edurio noted that only 8 per cent of staff considering resignation blamed a poor relationship with their line manager.

“It’s noteworthy that while a good relationship is a key driver of retention, a poor one may not be as big of a factor in someone’s decision to resign.”

Overall, resignation risk held flat at 41 per cent for the second year running. It had fallen from 43 per cent two years ago.

Edurio said it was “important to note that no role’s resignation risk moved in the wrong direction: teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders and administrative staff all improved or held steady”.

2. CEOs prioritise quality and inclusion

The report shows the quality of education is now academy trust CEOs’ top strategic priority for this academic year, as it was in 2023.

In 2024 and 2025, financial sustainability topped the list, but this is now the fourth priority.

Inclusion, a survey response since last year, is second highest after a sharp rise. Pupil outcomes is third and growth is fifth.

3. Pupil experience improves, but they don’t feel represented

Edurio’s report on its survey of 251,847 pupils found their experience had “improved across most of the areas we measure this year”.

The proportion of secondary pupils reporting feeling safe rose from 61 to 68 per cent over three years, and those reporting feeling happy increased from 42 to 51 per cent.

However, “representation is the exception”.

Just 16 per cent of secondary pupils said they often learned about people like themselves in class, around the same proportion as in the last two years and down from 19 per cent three years ago.

“The timing is pointed: inclusion is also the fastest-rising priority among CEOs this year, up ten points in twelve months,” the report said. “Leaders are paying more attention to it than ever; pupils still aren’t feeling the difference.”

4. Engagement drops off after year 7

Sixth form pupils were “by far the most positive about their school”, with 74 per cent of year 12 and 65 per cent of year 13 pupils “happy to be studying there”.

But their “wellbeing tells a different story”.

The findings show wellbeing declines throughout secondary school, from 51 per cent in year 7 to 40 per cent in year 11. There is a slight uptick to 45 per cent in year 12, before the drop to 38 per cent in year 13.

The report also found that the proportion of pupils reporting finding what they learned at school interesting dropped from 32 per cent in year 7 to 22 per cent in year 8. This barely improves until year 12.

Mary Myatt, an education adviser and writer, wrote in the report that the “drop after year 7 is particularly striking, with pupils less likely to find what they are learning interesting, less happy to be at school and less positive about how clearly work is explained.

“We should be careful not to treat this as an inevitable feature of adolescence. It raises an important question for schools: what are years 7, 8 and 9 actually for?”

She added that key stage 3 “should not be a holding pattern before GCSE.

“These are important years in their own right: years in which pupils should encounter rich subject knowledge, increasingly demanding ideas, powerful texts, worthwhile questions and experiences that help them see why their learning matters.”

5. Pupils praise staff kindness

Asked what is best about school, 21.2 per cent of pupils mentioned their friends, while 15.6 per cent said teachers and staff.

They praised staff for their kindness and fairness “far more often than for how well they teach”.

“Asked what they’d change, they ask for adjustment, not overhaul: fairer and more consistent rules, more comfortable uniform policies, longer breaks, better food. Fewer than one in ten want anything banned or stopped outright.”

6. Parents report greater engagement and respect

In the parents’ survey, satisfaction with their school’s efforts to engage them increased from 61 per cent last year to 63 per cent this year.

Parents were also more likely to report feeling respected by their child’s school (73 per cent, up from 71 per cent).

Satisfaction with communication held flat at 59 per cent for a third year.

But parents were less likely to report clarity over their school trust’s role (41 per cent, down from 43 per cent).