How can we recruit and retain the best people in Education?

John Murphy has spent the last ten years as CEO of one of the largest trusts in the UK and now works to support those in the same position across the country. In this post, he writes about the challenges of recruiting and training staff and the conditions that deliver success.

It was 36 years ago when I learnt just how challenging and rewarding working in education could be.

I was proud to graduate with a PGCE from the University of Cambridge. Weeks later, I was working with Year 5 children at Harris Middle School, in Lowestoft, Suffolk.

At the time, many families in its catchment area experienced high levels of deprivation.

For me, this environment presented a steep but enriching learning curve. There were so many lessons learnt; I’ll be forever grateful to the colleagues who supported me when I needed it.

During this time, and ever since, one thing has stood out to me: school staff play a huge role in shaping children and young people’s lives, and in doing so, they help shape a better society.

Despite the anxiety of my early experiences, you couldn’t pay me enough to leave. There is true joy in seeing real, lasting progress in a pupil’s life.

But today, many new arrivals to the sector see things differently. Far fewer are staying to realise their potential than 36 years ago.

How Leading Schools are Attracting Top Talent – and Keeping Them

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Do we know and understand the challenges around recruiting and retaining staff?

I’m proud to be one of the co-founders of the National Institute of Teaching. It focuses on developing a “golden thread” of learning, taking staff from early careers to the executive level.

But how many people are currently taking up this full career path? If you are looking to recruit staff and keep them, the picture is daunting.

According to the Department for Education, an average of 26.8% of new teachers leave the profession within three years. Additionally, the National Audit Office reports that only 38% of people employed in education between the ages of 17 and 29 remained at age 30. Compare this to 44% in the health sector, 48% in the public sector, and 49% in the private sector.

Teacher vacancies in England increased by 20% from 2,300 in November 2022 to 2,800 in November 2023, while temporarily-filled posts had risen from 2,100 to 3,700 over three years.

Overall, secondary teacher training course recruitment was at just 50% of the target in 2023/24. A Gatsby-funded study (2023) reports that about one-third of secondary science departments relied on non-subject-specialist staff to teach GCSE classes.

This year, there was a slight correction the other way, a reduction of 600 teacher vacancies to 2,200. But for HR teams looking to recruit, this is small compensation when in 2020 they were filling just 1,100 vacancies. 

Clearly, there is an ongoing recruitment issue

In a recent whitepaper, IRIS Education said – in no uncertain terms – that recruitment was a major challenge. Leaders ranked it third after budget restraints and SEND provision.

71% of trust leaders cited a lack of qualified candidates, 46% singled out rising agency costs, and 32% highlighted competition with other sectors.

The challenge, then, is twofold. On the one hand, we have to find and attract the very best teaching, back-office and support staff. On the other hand, we need to retain staff to break the constant recruitment cycle.  

How do we begin to address this? During testing times, we should collectively talk with pride about the work we do. But there is more: we must create conditions for staff that speak to a strong self-determination theory.

What are the conditions we need to create to attract, retain and nurture staff?

When advising on recruitment, development and retention, I emphasise three basic psychological needs:

• Agency: The feeling of having choice
• Competence: The experience of mastery and being effective in one’s activity
• Relatedness: The need to feel connected and have a sense of belonging

We must create conditions for staff to be well-trained, inducted, developed and nurtured. I’ll never forget that it was the professional generosity of colleagues that gave me the platform to be a better teacher and leader.

Discover more from a roundtable of sector experts

In this blog, we set out some of the challenges concerning recruitment. But how do we approach them strategically?

Our IRIS webinar, How leading schools are attracting top talent and keeping them, will help you.

Joining me is:

-Louise Lee, CEO at The Howard Partnership Trust

-Shane Ierston, CEO at Great Schools Trust

-Umar Hussain, Principal at King’s Warrington

-Mandy Coalter, Founder at Talent Architects

It’s part of a series looking at strategies and tools to optimise recruitment, refine processes, support staff, and cultivate teams.

Join us to find out more.

Click here to watch now.