Headteacher Update Podcast: How to keep your teachers

In the midst of a teacher retention crisis, this episode asks how primary schools can keep hold of their teaching staff, especially their early career teachers. With more than 114,000 teachers having quit teaching for reasons other than retirement in the last three years, our expert panel discuss general principles for creating a school environment that encourages teachers to want to stay. We talk about pay, equity of opportunity, creating belonging and psychological safety across our workforces, the vital role of CPD and support for career progression, and much more. We ask what effective school leadership for retention looks like, including the support we must offer and how to build trust and those vital relationships. We discuss strategies to address workload, a key driver of teacher retention, including flexible working, and how schools can help teachers to achieve a better work/life balance. We focus in particular on strategies to support early career teachers, a third of whom are likely to quit after their first five years. Ultimately, we ask how headteachers can make their school a place where teachers want to work and feel they belong.