Over the past year, [the National Foundation for Educational Research] NFER has been undertaking research on T Levels focusing on providers' preparations for the delivery of the first T Levels in Digital, Construction, and Education and Childcare, which are being delivered from September 2020. Our survey of over 700 senior leaders and classroom teachers found that, whilst most senior leaders were aware of T Levels, there was much lower awareness amongst classroom teachers. Around two-fifths of classroom teachers had heard of these new qualifications. In addition, the vast majority of respondents who were aware of T Levels were not well informed about them. As teachers can play an important role in raising the awareness of students and their parents/carers of post-16 options, more progress in informing schools about T Levels is needed.
The recruitment, development and retention of teachers and school leaders is a crucial underpinning for a successful education system. However, England's school system faces a substantial and growing challenge of ensuring there are sufficient numbers of high-quality teachers employed in schools. Meeting this supply challenge is necessary for the school system to deliver a high-quality education for all children and young people. [National Foundation for Educational Research's] NFER's annual Teacher Labour Market report aims to monitor the progress the school system is making towards meeting the teacher supply challenge by measuring the key indicators and trends of teacher supply and working conditions. We analyse [Department for Education] DfE census data on teacher recruitment and retention to assess the current state of the teacher labour market. We also present new analysis of the latest data on teachers' working conditions, and how they compare to similar individuals in other professions, from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS).
This research examines teacher autonomy and its importance for retention in England. Retaining more teachers is crucial for the education system when there are not enough teachers coming into the profession to meet the growing need from rising pupil numbers. The proportion of working-age teachers leaving the profession has risen from 5.8 per cent in 2011 to 8.3 per cent in 2018. Unmanageable workload and low job satisfaction are significant factors determining teachers' decision to stay in the profession or leave. Teachers' autonomy over their professional development goal-setting is particularly low, and is the most associated with higher job satisfaction. Increasing teachers' autonomy, particularly over their professional development goals, therefore has great potential for improving teacher job satisfaction and retention.
T Levels are a major part of the Government's reforms to strengthen England's skills system by improving vocational and technical education. These two-year technical programmes for young people aged 16 to 19 years will combine classroom theory, practical learning and an industry placement. This qualitative research provides an independent evidence-informed picture of how provider organisations are preparing to deliver the first three T Levels in Digital, Construction, and Education and Childcare, from September 2020. The research involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews with senior/middle leaders with organisation-wide responsibility for T Levels in half (25) of the first 50 providers of the three T Levels. We additionally interviewed ten senior sector representatives with extensive knowledge of vocational and technical education.
The recruitment, development and retention of teachers and school leaders is a crucial underpinning for a successful education system. However, England's school system faces a substantial and growing challenge of ensuring there are sufficient numbers of high-quality teachers employed in schools. Meeting this supply challenge is necessary for the school system to deliver a high-quality education for all children and young people. This first annual report on the state of the teacher workforce measures the key indicators of the teacher labour market and teachers' working conditions. We present data from a range of sources, which together highlight the trends that describe the current teacher supply situation and how it has changed over time.
