A new YouGov Poll has shown that 34% of education workers, teachers and teaching assistants are considering leaving their jobs.

Factors including low pay and poor work conditions have been cited as reasons behind these results. Other reasons have been cited as feeling undervalued (47%), a poor work-life balance (33%) and excessive workloads (31%).  The survey of 7,095 adults, including 1,417 public sector workers, found that 32% ‘have already taken steps to leave their profession to get a job in another field or are actively considering it.’ This has led to the head of the teaching union saying this could result in a ‘mass exodus’ in the public sector.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leader’s union, when commenting on the survey, said that ‘Leadership supply for our schools is teetering on the brink.’ He went on to add that ‘We urgently need the government to work with us to build a new, fair deal on pay, funding, workload and accountability, to relieve the extraordinary pressures on the profession and make a lifelong career in education attractive and sustainable.’ This comes after recent strike action from the union over pay disputes.

In October 2022, The Department of Education offered a 5% pay rise to teachers and headteachers in England, Scotland and Wales. The NASUWT teachers union has said it wants 12% to account for the current cost of living. In response to the proposed 5% offer, the general secretary of the NASUWT, Patrick Roach, said that ‘The government has failed to recognise the damaging impact of years of real terms pay cuts on the morale of teachers, which is fuelling the teacher recruitment and retention crisis’. A recent preliminary ballot from the NEU (National Education Union) has recorded that out of the 60% of teachers who voted, 86% are in favour of strike action.

On the prospect of further strike action, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that too many workers in the sector are ‘at breaking point because of a toxic mix of low pay, unsustainable workloads and a serious lack of recognition’, adding that ministers ‘must change course’ in their thinking when it comes to how the government is treating its teachers.

Data from the Department of Education shows that there has been an increase in the number of new teachers leaving after one year, rising from 11.7 per cent to 12.5 per cent from 2019 to 2020. 

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