Teachers in England are abandoning their profession in record numbers, according to official figures, with Labour claiming that “incompetent” government policies were to blame.
The latest workforce survey by the Department for Education (DfE) found that 40,000 teachers left state schools last year – almost 9% of the teaching workforce, and the highest number since it began publishing the data in 2011 – while a further 4,000 retired.
The survey found that unfilled teaching vacancies were also at a record high, with more than 2,300 empty posts compared with 530 a decade earlier. A further 3,300 posts were filled by supply teachers, 1,000 more than the year before.
Large numbers of teachers were missing because of illness, with more than 3m working days of sick leave taken last year, a rise of more than 50% compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2018-19.
Jack Worth of the National Foundation for Educational Research said it was “hugely concerning” to see so many working-age teachers leaving.
“Addressing teacher retention should be at the heart of dealing with the teacher supply challenge, with further policy action needed to reduce teacher workload and increase the competitiveness of teacher pay,” Worth said.
