With 40,000 teachers resigning from state schools in 2022 alone, which accounts to almost 9% of the entire teaching workforce, it’s hard to ignore the retention crisis taking place in British schools. Partnered with the fact that headteachers are finding it increasingly harder to replace staff, the workforce progressively shrinking. This is creating a vicious cycle. Teachers who remain in the profession take on greater workloads, increasing their risk of burnout and pushing even more teachers to look for alternative careers. As a consequence, schools are being forced to use non-specialist teachers, which, as you would expect, impacts pupil attainment.

Aside from low pay, working hours is one of the main contributors for teachers leaving the profession. Teachers already work 54 hours per week on average, and that number will likely increase if schools want to improve on pre-COVID exam results. Whilst shrinking budgets make it hard for schools to find funds for significant pay increases, they can invest in solutions that reduce the workloads of their teachers, creating happier learning environments and saving on recruitment costs.