10 January 2003
Badly-behaved pupils and initiative overload were the other main causes cited for the plummeting morale among teachers that has been highlighted by the survey, conducted for the General Teaching Council.
The survey, which was sent to all 530,000 teachers registered with the GTC, had 70,011 respondents. The results show that, while 64% of teachers expect still to be teaching in five years, the remainder do not.
Of this 36%, 18% plan to take retirement, 12% want to abandon teaching for alternative education jobs and 6% want to change profession entirely. The latter equates to 28,500 teachers: almost as many as were recruited to the profession last year.
GTC chief executive Carol Adams called on ministers to draw up a national retention strategy to match the recruitment strategy that has boosted the number of new teachers.
Adams said all teachers should have a 'career support plan', which would allow them to explore opportunities for professional development and promotion.
'An equally coherent retention strategy is needed to ensure that those actively recruited are then supported and sustained to stay in teaching,' she said.
'Such a career plan would ensure that schools involved teachers in decisions about their futures, seeing them as valuable assets to be nurtured and developed. It would turn opportunities for professional development from a lottery to an entitlement.'
Teaching unions said they were unsurprised by the survey's results and backed Adams' call for action.
Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: 'The survey confirms a trend which has been apparent over a number of years. The causes are undisputed: excessive workload and pupil behaviour.'
David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the survey sent a 'devastating message' to ministers. He warned that unless the government delivered the resources schools needed: 'We will not turn the recruitment and retention crisis around.'
But schools minister David Miliband said. 'The figures show that nearly two-thirds of teachers are happy with their career choice. We should stop talking down the profession.'
PFjan2003
