The challenge of retaining teachers: evidence from the perspective of secondary headteachers in England

Adams, Angela (2024). The challenge of retaining teachers: evidence from the perspective of secondary headteachers in England. University of Birmingham. Ed.D.

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Abstract

Concerns over teacher retention in secondary schools in England are not new however, this issue has recently escalated within the education policy agenda as a result of rising pupil numbers, ongoing and chronic shortfalls in new teacher recruitment and increases in the proportion of teachers leaving the profession. There is little doubt that the quality of the teaching workforce makes a substantial difference to pupils’ schooling and their educational outcomes. Thus, in order to deliver on the economic and social agendas of successive governments, it is more important than ever that we keep our best teachers. My research aims to improve understanding of why retaining teachers continues to be a significant challenge, from a new perspective. By interviewing Headteachers I seek to capture their assessment of the problem, in terms of their struggles in retaining their teachers within their schools, combined with that of their wider perspective as to the problems within the profession as a whole, particularly as their views are rarely embraced within literature in this context, nor based on participant evidence, policy decision making.
This qualitative case study employs a two-stage approach. Firstly, an online questionnaire with twenty-five Headteachers, to provide an overview of the issues, combined with background and contextual data. Secondly, the main focus of data collection, through semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirteen of these participants. The findings were then thematically coded and analysed. These Headteachers corroborated the long-standing tensions surrounding working conditions and the damaging effects of incessant policy-driven changes instigated by successive governments. Importantly, they provided insight as to other factors, including pay, escalating levels of surveillance, quality of recruits and ITT provision, ‘parent-power’ and a societal changing attitude to career mobility. All these elements have a profound and detrimental effect on retention and are presented in my diagram ‘Retention: untying the knot’. This conceptualises retention in a different way, illustrating the substantial and important connectors within marketization, managerialism and career mobility and inspired by the work of Peter Woods, the interrelated macro, meso and micro levels. How these Headteachers navigate the issues depends largely upon their school’s funding position, with some using their advantages to ‘buy the best and keep the best’; others, less well-positioned are facing considerable challenges in retention. Yet all were of a mind that retention was critical to the success, even the very survival of their school. Overall, the data exposes the complexities and interrelated factors involved in the retention of teachers, revealing some dominant, escalating and new factors as well as strategies employed by these Headteachers in an attempt to mitigate the problem. My analysis of the data demonstrates the profound dynamics at work, comprising policy, institutional factors and the individual respectively. My findings offers an in-depth examination of how Headteachers negotiate and understand retention within the present-day, constantly evolving education system. Potentially, it has implications for current policy, the practices of Headteachers and for further academic application. This research adds to knowledge about those who leave and why they leave and why this continues to be a perennial problem.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ed.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ed.D.

Supervisor(s):