Here’s how we can finally begin to fix the teacher supply crisis

As the summer holidays begin, we need to acknowledge that we have a problem. Far too many say that respite from their punishing workload is the one thing that keeps them going, and far too many can’t bear to keep putting themselves through this cycle. 

It is this routine exhaustion (85 per cent of teachers say they are exhausted at the end of every working day) which drove me to establish the Teaching Commission, whose report, Shaping the future of education was published last week.

The commission examined its causes, and one thing was abundantly clear: classroom teaching is not the cause. In fact, 85 per cent of teachers say they enjoy being in the classroom most or all of the time.

The exhaustion is caused by the work teachers do in addition to their teaching, for which we top the international league tables.  Our teachers more than double their working hours working on classroom-adjacent activities.

Some of this work, such as marking and planning, is essential. But much of it is depressingly bureaucratic and seemingly pointless. (Every teacher will have their own views on what these tasks are and why they are pointless.)

This is what is driving teachers from the profession in increasing numbers, and we simply can’t afford it. It now takes 10 early-career teachers to replace every seven more experienced teachers who leave our schools – and they are leaving in ever-increasing numbers, earlier in their careers. 

In 2023, nearly 10 per cent of the profession left before retirement, the highest proportion since numbers were recorded.

This rate of departure leads to what has been called a ‘weakened workforce’.  Early-career teachers lose the support that their more experienced colleagues could give them if they remained, and the route through to leadership is disrupted.

This is bad for the profession, and it is even worse for pupils. In particular, it is terrible for the most deprived, who are most likely to be taught by cover teachers, inexperienced teachers, unqualified teachers and teachers teaching out of their subject area. 

This is bad for the profession, and it is even worse for pupils

It cannot be right or just that the pupils who most need the best teachers are the least likely to get them.

That sense of injustice on behalf of the most-needy pupils drove the work of the commission, whose report focused on three themes:

• the scale of the teacher supply crisis.
• the challenges teachers and leaders face at each stage of their career.
• and the systemic challenges the profession faces, from the pressures of an inconsistent and unreliable accountability system to the funding challenges faced by schools.

The report examines the challenges faced by returner mother-teachers who struggle to combine the excessive demands of their teaching roles with bringing up children.

For them, the right to request flexible and part-time work is really important, and new research done by the key group for the commission  shows clearly that if mother-teachers are able to work flexibly they are significantly more likely to stay in the profession. 

The report also offers significant and thought-provoking recommendations for school leaders.  In essence, it supports what should be  an entirely reasonable premise: that teachers must be treated as adult professionals and their views on areas of their professional expertise taken into account. 

Depressingly, the commissioners heard evidence that in some schools this is not the case. In these schools, teachers’ professional voice is not heard and their expertise is not sufficiently valued.  This is a major cause of disaffection, which leads to good teachers deciding to leave.

The report also examines the experience of Black and global majority-heritage teachers who find that entry to the profession and progress within it is too often denied. Thirty-five per cent of pupils are from these very backgrounds, but only 10 per cent of teachers. The diversity of our pupil intake needs to be better reflected in the profession.

The report has over 30 recommendations to support teaching becoming a more attractive profession for graduates, a more sustainable and rewarding career, and one where a more representative sample progress to leadership (where the posts are disproportionately male-dominated).

The report, launched at the Festival of Education this month, has been well received. I have met the schools minister, Catherine McKinnell and the DfE officials responsible for teacher supply to discuss its findings.

I will keep the pressure up in Westminster to see its policy recommendations discussed and adopted.

In the meantime, there’s plenty school leaders can do for themselves. So have a read over the summer and get back to us with your views, because our work hasn’t stopped.

Now, we must build on our understanding of what it is teachers need to thrive – and make the change happen.

Throughout the Teaching Commission’s work, commissioners have been writing for Schools Week about the evidence they’ve heard. Read all the articles here