I’ve been blown away by your responses to my last post on teacher recruitment and retention.
This discussion stems from my very real concern about whether we will have enough teachers to staff our schools in the near future. We currently have reduced numbers of teachers joining the profession, at a time that many are choosing to leave – for a range of reasons touched on in my last post. Some schools are already operating with vacancies putting additional pressure on existing teaching staff and leaders.
Therefore, I thought I would share a selection of strategies, drawn from both my experience, and suggestions provided by some of my followers, that aim to ensure that you can retain talent. These strategies will ensure that teachers and education staff will love teaching in your schools and trusts, resulting in more teaching staff remaining in the profession.
1. Supportive culture: getting the workplace culture right is essential. Culture is created by our values and beliefs, and how these impact on and inform our relationships and behaviours. It is essential that all members of the school community live out the school values, and leaders ensure that these are infused into all relationships, policies and procedures. For example, if a school has a value of equity, do governors and senior leaders accommodate reasonable adaptations to ensure that all teachers, including those who are part time, are able to work flexibly around their other commitments?
2. Psychological safety: it is essential that colleagues are able to share their worries, concerns and express disagreements respectfully, without fear. A psychologically safe workplace will be respectful and compassionate, will encourage discussion and debate, without compromising on high expectations of pupils’ achievement. To ensure that staff feel safe, they will need to trust leaders to act with integrity and to keep confidentiality. A recent Gallup poll found that 75% of people leave work because of their managers, which emphasises the importance of ensuring staff feel psychologically safe at work.
3. Value your team: Being valued may include tangible recognition for contributions and achievements, such as public thanks, or handwritten notes or possibly a performance-related bonus; but will also include the quiet thank you, the time and ear offered to listen when needed.
4. Lead with Emotional Intelligence: It increases talent retention by 4x (Hay Group)
Practice self-awareness: readily own to your mistakes and openly embrace imperfections, fostering an environment of honesty, trust, and accountability.
Build a united team: bring people together, creating a cohesive and supportive group that collaborates effectively and genuinely cares about each other's success.
Manage emotions: stay calm and composed under pressure, effectively diffusing tension and consistently boosting team confidence and morale.
Develop empathy: genuinely care about and appreciate your team's feelings and perspectives, creating a supportive environment where everyone feels heard and valued.
Embrace change: navigate change with flexibility, turning challenges into opportunities and inspiring others to embrace new directions.
Empower others: trust your team to take on new and difficult challenges. Give teachers more control over their classrooms and curriculum. This fosters a sense of ownership and allows them to tailor their teaching to the specific needs of their students, empowering them to grow, innovate, and consistently exceed expectations.
5. Trust teachers: many teachers have left the profession due to heavy-handed quality assurance processes. Whilst leaders need to know how well learners are progressing, they should carefully consider the demands they are putting on teachers, and weigh up which methods provide greatest insight with less pressure.
6. Prioritise teacher wellbeing: offer resources and support for mental and physical health. Offer help to avoid lifestyle behaviours that exacerbate burnout. This could include access to counselling services, mindfulness programs, or even just creating a comfortable and relaxing staff room. Ensure female colleagues are not disadvantaged by having period and menopause policies in place to provide support.
7. Nurture talent: look for opportunities to develop individuals and give them opportunities to grow. Provide quality professional development opportunities, including access to continuing education and gaining additional qualifications. Consider offering coaching to teachers and leaders at all levels for highly personalised professional development.
8. Flexible working arrangements: Where possible, try to accommodate flexible working requests to allow all teachers to contribute to the profession with the time they have available, working around their other commitments. This will accommodate parents, carers, teachers with a medical condition, or those who simply want a better balance between work and home life.
9. Equip governors: enable governors to support and challenge when recruiting staff, to develop proactive policies to aid teacher retention, and to improve workplace culture and wellbeing through evaluating and acting on feedback from teachers.
10. Streamline administrative tasks: reduce the burden of paperwork and bureaucracy. Only ask for reports and planning that are essential.
What other strategies would you add to this list? Please add your comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks to my following connections for their suggestions in my last post:
Angela Murphy, Sarah Alexander, Geraldine Roberts-Stone, Jade Garratt, Melanie Stokes, Andrew Boulind 🏴🇪🇸 , Jane Woods, Julian Holland, Andy Stainton, Mike Leaman, Hope Robertson, Chartered MCIPD, Emma Ansell, Sarah Herbert
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