Teacher Labour Market in England – NFER Annual Report

The NFER has recently published their annual report on the Teacher Labour Market in England (2021).

The key findings show that The Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020 led to a lower level of teacher well-being in England. The onset of the pandemic led to an increase in subjective distress, a rise in anxiety and lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction among teachers, compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, the lower level of well-being among teachers was also experienced by similar individuals in other professions.

There is even some evidence of teachers being less negatively affected compared to those in other professions. There appears to be no evidence that being a teacher during the Covid-19 pandemic was specifically associated with lower levels of well-being, over and above the widespread negative effects on the well-being of the population. Teachers’ working hours dropped to a more manageable level during 2020, but returned to the pre-2020 level in the autumn term Before the pandemic, teachers were working longer hours in term time than similar professionals were in a usual week. However, during the spring 2020 lockdown, when teachers were mostly working at home while schools were only open to keyworkers and vulnerable children, full-time teachers’ working hours fell to around 40 hours, similar to the hours worked by similar professionals.

During the autumn term, in which schools were fully open to pupils, full-time teachers’ working hours rose again to around 46 hours per week, significantly more hours than the 41 reported by full-time similar professionals during the same period.

You can read the report here: nfer.ac.uk/media/4382/teacher_labour_market_in_england_annual_report_2021.pdf.

It shows that teacher recruitment was down from March 2020 through the peak of Covid. Forecasting shows that schools will be facing teacher shortages in the near future.

Another report shows Schools are facing mass departures of teaching staff after the pandemic, as new analysis from Labour reveals that even before Covid more newly-qualified teachers were leaving schools than ever before

According to analysis by the Education Policy Institute, the proportion of teachers intending to leave the profession has almost doubled since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with 71 per cent of surveyed teachers reporting that the Government’s handling of Covid has made them more likely to leave.

Yet the situation was already worsening pre-pandemic. Labour analysis of school workforce data shows that the proportion of newly qualified teachers leaving within one year of qualifying has risen throughout a decade of Conservative governments. Between 2011 and 2019, the proportion of teachers leaving the profession within one year increased by 25 per cent – a potential loss of over 3,500 new teachers.

You can read the report here: fenews.co.uk/press-releases/49606-covid-19-could-reduce-teacher-recruitment-shortages-by-40-per-cent.

Point to Point Education can help! If you have vacancies and would like to get a head start on recruiting for 2021/2022 contact us with your recruitment needs and we will start matching and sending you fully vetted and committed teachers ready for interview. Contact info@pointtopointeducation.com or call 0203 633 4326.