Fewer staff want to resign – but more think pay is unfair

School staff retention is improving for the first time since the pandemic, with fewer people saying government policy makes them want to resign.

But a survey released this week by Edurio also shows that school employees are less likely to report having fair pay or adequate flexible working opportunities, and just 7 per cent of school staff reported they were rarely or never overworked.

The organisation surveyed 85,176 workers across 1,627 schools and 163 trusts.

Here’s what we learned…

1. Fewer teachers want to resign …

The report found that, “for the first time since the pandemic, retention is improving”.

This backs up a trend seen in official government statistics, which showed the number of teachers leaving the profession dropped by around 1,700 last year.

Edurio said its survey found the proportion of staff considering resignation fell to 41 per cent in the 2024-25 academic year, down from 43 per cent in the previous two years.

“The drop is most notable among teachers and middle leaders, traditionally the groups at highest risk,” the report continued.

2. …and government policy improvements help

The top reasons for considering resignation remained unchanged last year – they were teachers feeling undervalued, having an overwhelming workloads and low morale in the workplace.

Interestingly, the proportion citing government policy as a reason for wanting to leave dropped from 15 per cent in the 2023-24 academic year, to 11 per cent in 2024-25.

The current Labour government was elected at the end of July last year, but Edurio said it was not able to draw a “causal link” between its findings and the change in administration.

3. But concerns over middle leaders and admin staff remain

The report found teachers “still report the least positive experiences, but resignation risk has fallen, narrowing the gap with other colleagues”.

Teaching assistants were “more positive about workload, stress and excitement, but below average on appreciation from leadership and overall wellbeing”.

TAs also recorded a two percentage point reduction in those reporting feeling well.

Middle leaders “lag behind national benchmarks on workload, stress and wellbeing but feel more valued and excited than teachers”. Just 4 per cent said they rarely or never felt overworked, compared to 7 per cent of all staff.

Administrative staff were the only group with a higher proportion considering resignation than last year. They were also “least excited about their work”.

4. And worsening view of pay and flexible working

The survey also found staff views on pay and flexible working were going backwards.

The proportion of staff reporting that their pay was fair compared to similar roles in their organisation fell from 52 to 48 per cent.

And the proportion reporting flexible working opportunities met their needs fell from 67 to 65 per cent – despite a big flexible working push from the government. 

5. Improving relationships with parents

The upcoming white paper will establish “clear expectations of schools” for parent engagement and “improve how school complaints are made and resolved”.

Edurio’s survey of 72,480 parents of pupils at 585 schools and in 70 trusts actually suggests the picture is already improving.

It found engagement and communication “have improved over the last three years”. Satisfaction with schools’ efforts to engage parents rose from 58 to 61 per cent last year, though there was a slight drop in parents reporting that it was easy to contact school.

However, the proportion of parents reporting the role of the trust that runs their child’s school was clear has fallen from 46 per cent two years ago to 43 per cent last year.

6. ‘Meaningful’ improvements in pupil experience…

A survey of 231,259 pupils at 608 schools has also been released, showing “small but meaningful improvements in pupils’ experience”.

The survey found the proportion of secondary pupils reporting feeling very or quite happy to be studying at their school rose from 42 per cent last year to 44 per cent, but that remains below the 46 per cent in 2022-23.

7. …but some issues remain

However, the report warned that “some issues remain”. For example, primary pupils’ happiness “declines as they progress through year groups” and clarity of instruction in secondary schools “continues to worsen”.

Inclusion also “remains a concern, with very few pupils recognising themselves in the curriculum”.

In a conclusion to the report, Jack Worth, education workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research, said the data “shows some clear signs of positive progress in addressing key challenges”.

But “national recruitment and retention challenges remain nonetheless”, and many of the positive signs of progress are “modest”.

He added: “Much more work is needed to improve working conditions in the school workforce and make it an attractive and desirable workplace to build a long-term career.”