Nearly half of England's teachers could leave their jobs in five years

Research found 22% would also leave their job within two years

Author: Rory GannonPublished 11th Apr 2022

Nearly half of teachers in England are looking to leave the profession in just five years time, according to research.

Figures from a poll conducted by the National Education Union (NEU) found that of the 1,788 teachers surveyed, 44% plan to quit their jobs by 2027.

In addition to this, 22% of teachers in England said they are considering leaving their post in as little as two year's time.

When asked for their reasoning to quit teaching, many of those polled cited 'heavy workload'.

Of the respondents, 52% said the amount of work expected of teachers nowadays is "unmanageable", up from 35% on figures from 2021.

As well as this, many teachers also cited pay and accountability as reasons they were looking to leave their jobs.

Many schools had been struggling to fill much-needed vacancies, leading to teachers having to take up second jobs, which was made worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking about the figures, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said that prolonged government inaction had led to the teaching crisis.

"We remain a profession with amongst the highest number of unpaid working hours, and we are still well above the international average for hours worked by teachers. This is simply unsustainable and can only lead to burn-out," she said.

She added that the Government should not simply accept that high workload was a problem, but that it had "played a starring role in many of the contributing factors".

"Our survey findings show that whether it be recruitment targets missed, talented teachers leaving the profession, the pernicious effects of a punitive and deeply flawed inspection system, or the effect of real-terms cuts to pay over many years, a national policy decision is always the villain of the piece."

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: "We recognise the pressure that staff in schools and colleges have been under and are enormously grateful to them for their efforts, resilience, and service now and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Teaching remains an attractive and fulfilling profession. The number of teachers in our schools remains high, with more than 461,000 teachers working in schools across the country - 20,000 more than in 2010.

"We have taken and will continue to take action to improve teacher and leader workload and wellbeing, working proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind such issues and improve our policies and interventions."

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