Forty-one per cent of teachers plan to leave within five years

The National Education Union has conducted a survey of almost 18,000 of its members on their future plans, which revealed that 16% of teachers plan to leave the education profession within two years, and 41% of teacher respondents plan to be gone within five years.

Almost a quarter of support staff respondents (23%) will no longer be working in education by 2025, and almost half (48%) expect to have left by 2028.

Since the pandemic, 78% of teachers in our survey have seen worsening levels of staff absence at their workplace due to sickness, 72% a reduction in support staff, and for 66% an increase in the rate of staff leaving their post. Support staff reported 71%, 62% and 63% respectively.

The majority of respondents have adapted to the cost-of-living crisis by reducing home heating (85% teachers, 81% support staff), a quarter have skipped meals (23% teachers, 26% support staff) and one in five have taken on a second job to make ends meet (18% teachers, 21% support staff).

Less than a third of teacher members (31%) in England and Wales think that in five years’ time they will be either in the same role or looking for promotion in their current workplace. The rest plan to either look for promotion elsewhere (13%), look for a different role or setting within the education sector (15%), or to quit entirely (41%).

When the numbers for those forecasting two years ahead are broken down, 17% of English state school teachers said they would no longer be working in education, compared to 18% of those in Welsh state schools and 13% of teachers in the independent sector.

For support staff, almost a quarter (23%) plan to quit within two years, and almost half (48%) plan to leave within five.