Commenting on the analysis from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said;
“The NFER’s conclusion that increasingly uncompetitive pay and high workload alongside a lack of flexible working options are key factors driving prospective joiners away from teaching represents further evidence to support the NEU’s call for fully funded, above-inflation pay increases and effective action on workload.
‘Many young people are still interested in teaching but are put off by pay and workload issues. Huge cuts to the real value of teacher pay against inflation since 2010 have caused severe damage to the ability of teaching to compete for graduates, intensifying the recruitment and retention crisis. Repairing the damage to teacher pay will be a key yardstick for measuring how serious the new Government is about tackling the recruitment and retention crisis.”