Nearly half of England’s teachers plan to leave in next five years

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/22/teachers-plan-leave-five-years-survey-workload-england

Guardian survey shows huge concerns over workload with teachers in state schools at breaking point – just as the government wants them to do more

Nearly half of England’s teachers plan to leave in next five years
Liz Lightfoot
Tuesday 22 March 2016 03.15 EDT

Teachers, at breaking point trying to cope with the relentless exam and curriculum changes, already plan to leave the state system in record numbers, a Guardian survey has found, as the government calls for longer school days and more maths lessons.

In England 43% of the state school teachers polled said they were planning to leave the profession in the next five years. The survey shows that the staff recruitment and retention crisis, described by ministers as “scaremongering”, is a reality: 79% of schools say they are struggling to recruit or retain teachers and 88% predict things are going to get worse and that this will severely affect students.

Bureaucratic systems to record pupil progress and staff performance, plus a heavier burden of written marking to please Ofsted inspectors, are taking a toll on the health of the school workforce and prompting more to escape to schools in the independent sector or overseas, the survey finds.

Plans announced by the chancellor, George Osborne, last week will exacerbate the already serious retention and recruitment crisis in both academy and local authority schools, say teachers’ leaders. The government wants schools to stay open until 4.30 and is providing up to £285m for a quarter of secondaries to extend the school day, based on a bidding system. The budget also announced an inquiry into the feasibility of students continuing to study maths until age 18.