Short Stay

Majority of NQTs to drop out within a year by 2017

If current rates continue, by 2017 52 per cent of newly qualified teachers will be dropping out of the profession within the first year, according to supply teaching agency Randstad Education. The specialist recruiter has produced a forecast based on the current trend of increased dropouts in the sector where in 2011 just 62 per cent of NQTs teachers were still in the education sector a year after qualifying, either from dropping out, or never getting a position.

Randstad says that newly qualified teachers are given a false sense of urgency to secure a first permanent job by universities that are under pressure to hit targets for student employability.

“Universities are over-emphasising the importance of securing a permanent job,” says Jenny Rollinson, managing director of Randstad Education. “This has two unfortunate results. Some graduates don’t find a permanent job and feel defeated by the process. Instead of looking at other options, like supply teaching, they duck out of the profession altogether. Others panic and taking the first job they find – a job which is often not well-matched to their personality traits and skill-set. After a disastrous demotivating year in a role which doesn’t suit them, many teachers leave with less-than-glowing references making it even harder to find the right job second time around – also making them more likely to drop out of the profession.”

“There are 40,000 teaching jobs that need filling every year,” she continues. “There is a huge shortfall in the number of newly qualified teachers. We need the number of people getting jobs in schools to be growing – not shrinking. We need to ensure our teachers enjoy a fulfilling career in the positions we place them in, so that they in turn inspire the children they teach. That can’t happen without new blood coming into the sector and sticking with the profession.”