Why is the recruitment and retainment of teachers so challenging?

Blog posts

8 May 2025

Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist (Fellow)

This blog was originally published in April 2025 on the website of Adzuna, one of the largest online job search engines in the UK. 

The demand for teachers in the UK, particularly in England, has experienced significant changes in recent years. This is primarily due to a combination of high teacher attrition rates, recruitment challenges, and policy changes affecting teacher education and supply. Teacher recruitment and retention in the UK faces significant challenges, exacerbated by various systemic and policy-related issues. These challenges are critical as they impact the quality of education and the ability to meet educational demands. Teacher recruitment and retention particularly in England, faces significant regional disparities, influenced by various factors including policy changes, financial incentives, and diversity issues.

The Covid-19 pandemic initially led to a surge in teacher applications in 2020, with UCAS reporting a 32% increase in applications for teacher training programmes. However, this was followed by significant burnout and increased workloads as teachers managed remote learning, hybrid teaching, and Covid-19 safety measures. By late 2021, surveys showed that approximately 44% of teachers were considering leaving the profession within five years due to pandemic-related stress. The UK government faced teacher recruitment challenges and consistently missed teacher recruitment targets in key subjects like mathematics, physics, and computing between 2020-2024. The Department for Education (DfE) data showed in the academic year 2022/23 recruitment for secondary school teacher training met only 59% of its target for postgraduate secondary trainees, down from 79% in 2021/22.

The problems became more pronounced by regional disparities, with schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and rural regions facing the most severe recruitment difficulties. The shift of teacher education provision to urban centres leaves rural areas struggling to attract and retain teachers, further deepening regional disparities. Moreover, certain regions in England, termed “cold spots,” lack established teacher training providers due to policy changes like the ITT Market Review. This centralises teacher education in urban centres, exacerbating recruitment and retention issues in already isolated areas. In the past year or so, industrial action has been taken by teaching unions regarding teachers’ pay and conditions affecting recruitment and retention. Moreover, the cost-of-living crisis exacerbated concerns about teacher salaries relative to other graduate professions. Several schools reported increased reliance on supply teachers and non-specialist teachers to cover staffing gaps caused by teacher recruitment challenges.

Using data from Adzuna’s Intelligence Portal we examine recent changes in teaching job vacancies across the UK. We collected data from the last six months, that is July to December of 2023 and we compared it to the last six months of 2024. We examined the data and calculated the differences between the first period and the second at a local authority district level to gain insights about regional disparities from one period to the next. We find that while increases and decreases in teaching job vacancies can be found across the UK, several of the locations with the highest number of increases are to be found in the South West and the South East (see map below). Teachers may well consider the affordability of decent housing in their location of choice, local city/town amenities, and their overall local consumption power afforded by a teacher’s salary at location, along with a myriad of other lifestyle choices. 

Amongst the locations with the highest net-increases in teacher job vacancy advertisements between periods examined, we find Tandridge, Reigate and Banstead, Horsham, Mid Sussex, and Mole Valley. On the other end of the distribution we find locations, such as, Leeds, Westminster, Edinburgh, and Birmingham, where some of the largest decreases are observed.

Certain polices have been put in place as a response, such as the Early Career Framework (ECF) that was fully rolled out in 2021, providing a two-year induction period for new teachers, the government introduced recruitment and retention bonuses for shortage subjects typically found amongst the STEM courses (up to £3,000 for mathematics and physics teachers in certain areas), and increased teacher training bursaries for certain subjects with payments of up to £28,000 for physics, mathematics, and computing. However, the low recruitment and retention problems persist. 

Whilst the reasons behind the problems with recruitment and retention of teachers may be many, some of the retention issues are often attributed to:

1. High attrition rates: The first few years of teaching continues to show high attrition rates, with approximately 30% of teachers leaving within their first five years.
2. Long working hours: Teacher workload remains a significant factor, with reported average working weeks of 54+ hours.
3. Low real pay: Real-term pay decreases since 2010 were not substantially reversed despite some increases in starting salaries.

The demand for teachers in the UK has been influenced by a recruitment crisis, policy changes, and a certain fragmentation of the teaching profession. These factors have collectively reshaped the landscape of teacher demand, particularly affecting rural and isolated areas more severely. It may be unrealistic to expect supply for teachers to increase and churn to be reduced if teachers’ salaries cannot effectively cover their cost of living, particularly when considering their workload and long hours of work. With increased emphasis on Further Education (FE), vocational training, and apprenticeships, additional challenges can affect teacher recruitment and retention beyond low pay, such as job insecurity and status. A strategic, joined-up approach is needed to address these challenges and improve the teaching sector’s capacity.

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Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.