Surveys have revealed that teachers in England work far longer hours than their international counterparts, causing serious concern amongst both policymakers and the profession. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the structure of and changes to teachers' working hours. We address this gap in the evidence base by analysing four…

Concerns over teacher retention and resilience led to a coaching project designed to support and nurture a group of Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in a University school partnership. Research interviews were conducted with the group to ascertain the issues that they had faced during the year and impact of the coaching experience. The NQTs…

Established in 1992, Ofsted is championed by government ministers as the guardian of educational standards in schools and colleges. Ofsted has never produced any research on the validity of its inspection judgements. Ofsted has no evidence, other than rising percentages of schools being awarded positive Ofsted grades, to support its assertion that…

This qualitative study explores the types of school-level teacher wellbeing initiatives reported by 51 teachers. The authors argue that the most well-received wellbeing measures are those embedded within supportive whole school cultures which aim to minimise burdensome workloads and maximise feelings of autonomy, relatedness and competence.…

The retention of teachers is one of the key challenges currently facing schools today. The imperative to bring more teachers into the profession and keep them there has never been more urgent. With Government interventions in England mainly concentrated on the recruitment of teachers into the state sector, little consideration has been given to…

England is currently facing a crisis in the recruitment and retention of teachers, with one-in-three newly qualified staff leaving the profession within five years of completing their training. This paper investigates several different aspects of the lives of recently qualified teachers in England, including their life satisfaction, mental health,…

This project seeks to answer the question of which intervention practices are most effective for raising the academic attainment of GCSE maths pupils in England. The findings will have the potential to alleviate teacher workload and to raise pupil attainment by refining the intervention schemes employed in schools. The results will therefore also…

In Europe, well-being in the workplace has increasing prominence in the policy and research agenda, and education is a key context in which the challenge of occupational stress has been reported. Traditionally, the ethos in school settings could be said to be shaped by the vocational motivation of employees; that is, a commitment to a social…

In 2015 the (UK) National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD) conducted their biggest and most comprehensive survey to date with art and design educators. Some 1,191 teachers and lecturers employed in early years to further education settings across England and Wales responded to the survey, which aimed to capture how government policy…

In this study, we examine the teaching-related stress, self-efficacy, and occupational commitment of preservice teachers from two culturally western and two culturally eastern countries. The sample included 1,187 participants from Canada (n?=?379), England (n?=?203), Hong Kong (n?=?211), and Thailand (n?=?394). Self-efficacy partially reduced…

With rising pupil numbers, shortfalls in the number of trainee teachers and an increasing proportion of teachers leaving the profession, retaining teachers who are already in the profession is vital for managing the current and future supply of teachers. This report draws out a number of key factors impacting on teacher retention and makes…

What are the motivations, needs and interests of academics entering mid-career? To answer this question, we drew on data from our longitudinal research program to examine the career trajectories of thirteen social scientists and scientists, five or more years post-PhD, in research-teaching positions. We used an identity framework to understand how…

Two German native speakers come to England to undertake a course of initial teacher training. They complete the course successfully. Instead of seeking and finding jobs as teachers, however, they return to Germany to undertake a second course of initial teacher training. This is unusual. This article reviews their reasons for taking two routes in…

The Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey (SSCSS) has been carried out every four to six years since 1965. The 2007 survey was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). The aim of this survey was to create a picture of the secondary…

A foreign language teacher talks of his special first-year circumstances which ought to be the norm for every probationary teacher: many free periods, one classroom to teach in which is not used by anyone else, access to a central equipment area for all language teachers, and staff support. (CFM)