The challenges of finding the right staff and keeping hold of them ranks highly in the league table of priorities for most trust leaders.
And it’s critically important for those leading schools in the regions of England which for economic or geographic reasons can struggle to retain the kinds of talented people who could go on to work in schools.
That challenge was explored in a fascinating workshop Supporting Education Group hosted at the MAT Summit at the end of November. Thrive director Tom Preston and I were joined by Michael McCarthy, CEO of Consilium Academies, a trust with secondary schools across northern England, including the coastal North East.
He spoke about the struggles of getting hold of – and keeping hold of – talented teachers in Consilium schools in the region, which he described as “a dry pond” for some teacher recruitment. He also outlined initiatives they have brought in to promote better retention.
Michael went into detail about Consilium’s approach to retention in a piece he wrote for Schools Week, published on the day of our presentation.
What he said about keeping hold of staff when career expectations are changing rapidly, chimed strongly with my own thinking about retention strategy.
As Michael said in his piece, the sector must adjust to the reality that expectations of teaching careers are shifting and that professionals want flexible working, better career development, more work-life balance and improved wellbeing, as well as autonomy and a sense of purpose.
He wrote: “At our trust we’re unable to offer nine-day fortnights but we have brought in a cluster of smaller measures that combined make a strong offer for our current – and prospective – staff.
“We’ve flexed timetables so that teachers have their non-contact time towards the end of the day or end of the week, with the understanding that if the work’s done they can go home.”
He went on: “As part of our workload charter, we’ve adopted live marking in the classroom, urging our team not to mark for the sake of it and only when the work isn’t where they’d expect it to be.
“We have also built a central curriculum, allowing staff to use off the shelf lesson plans that they can customise to their needs.”
Michael detailed a range of other initiatives including improved exit interviews to understand why staff leave, keeping hold of good people even if it means overstaffing, better relocation support and staff benefits usually seen in the commercial world.
This, he said, was all underpinned by a strong sense of purpose – an important part of the expectations of the modern workforce.
The result of the initiatives Michael described is that retention rates have improved significantly, with a 40% drop in employees leaving the trust in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Michael also made the case for policy makers to make efforts to ensure that there is a co-ordinated strategic focus on improving recruitment and retention across the country.
“There must be a co-ordinated strategic focus that is not just about improving schools but improving every facet of the system, including recruitment and retention,” he said. “The mood music from the Department is encouraging, but we need to see specifics. For me these should include introducing regional heat maps setting out where teachers are training and detailing their subjects and specialisms and making sure that supply matches need across the country.”
Hearing Michael’s insights on retention was incredibly valuable, and it was heartening to hear that the approaches Consilium has adopted are working. I’ll be sharing the Consilium perspective on this most important of issues as I meet more trust leaders in what is set to be a very exciting 2025.