Recruitment & Retention

Recruitment and retention of teachers is a growing national problem, exacerbated by rising pupil numbers, changes in teacher training provision and serious concerns amongst teachers about their remuneration and workload. Locally, schools often find themselves competing to employ the same teachers.

A review of the local and national dimensions of the problem has concluded that we need to work at city level, initially to attract more teachers to work in Nottingham and to offer them better professional development and career advantages that retain them as they progress as teachers.

As a city, we take seriously the issue of teacher workload, stress and working conditions, which have been consistently cited over the last twenty years as the main reasons for qualified teachers leaving the profession. Consequently, we created The Fair Workload Charter, which sets out what teachers and other staff can expect from the schools that have signed up to participate. This includes adopting schemes such as the ‘five-minute lesson plan’ model and the marking policy clarifying what will and will not be marked. If you’d like to know more about our charter please click here: http://www.teachnottingham.org.uk/home2/fair-workload-charter/

A website has also been created for all things regarding teaching in Nottingham – http://www.teachnottingham.org.uk/

We have set up a working group to review national, international and local evidence on these issues. Share good practice and identify policies and initiatives to reduce the pressure on teachers and schools in Nottingham.