Retention: The Bigger Picture

We know it won't be solved by toolkits and webinars alone. Systemic change is also needed to keep teachers in the profession. According to our ‘Revisiting the Teacher Retention Crisis: Recommendations for Change’ report, in 2023/24 more than 37,000 teachers left for reasons other than retirement in England. Training them had cost over £1bn. Add the price of recruitment and covering their replacements, and the annual cost of attrition rises above £1.5bn.

The cost isn't only financial. Higher turnover affects teaching quality, productivity, and social equity within schools, and hits pupils in the most deprived communities hardest.

As schools address this sector wide issue, we wanted to share some of the ways we’ve campaigned in recent years for Governments across the UK to focus on improving teacher retention:

We turn our research into policy pressure. Our Teacher Wellbeing Index and 2025 retention research report give us the evidence base to argue for change, and we use it in government inquiries and consultations, from the recent Schools White Paper inquiry in England to the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s inquiry into teacher recruitment and retention inquiry in Wales last year.

It's making a difference. Our evidence to the Senedd's inquiry on teacher recruitment and retention was referenced 38 times in its final report earlier this year.

We bring teachers' voices into the room. We've run campaigns encouraging supporters to write to their MP about their own experience of working in education, and we host events that put politicians, educators and education experts around the same table.

Keeping teachers in the profession involves every level and we’ll keep working to deliver change across the system.