How schools can improve teacher retention with connected school systems

Schools are facing the growing challenge of keeping experienced teachers long-term. This is not new information. Data in England reveals only around 60% of teachers expect to still be teaching in three years' time, down from 75% before the pandemic. 

One of the biggest problems here is that recruitment and retention are often treated as individual challenges. But it’s one problem: schools don’t have a complete view of their staff. From the first advert to the longest-serving member of staff, that fragmentation makes every stage of hiring, managing and retaining staff harder than it needs to be.  

The state of teacher recruitment and retention  

In the UK, teacher recruitment and retention is an ever-growing concern, and is increasingly becoming more of a priority for international schools, according to our 2026 Global Wellbeing Report. Of those we surveyed, over half don't plan to stay in teaching long-term. 

In the UK, teacher training figures are rising, however, there aren't enough new teachers to offset the number of those leaving the profession.  

Meanwhile, international schools are facing growing challenges in attracting and retaining qualified teachers. According to ISC Research, demand for teachers in international schools is at unprecedented levels. 

The challenge for school HR and hiring teams is that recruitment and retention problems rarely happen in isolation. They are often the result of patterns that emerge over time, from workload pressures, student behaviour and limited career development opportunities to difficulties with recruitment and onboarding.  

Schools may already hold information that could help identify these issues earlier, but it is often spread across different systems and teams. As a result, decision makers can struggle to see the full picture.

How connected school systems can support teacher retention 

Most schools use several different systems to manage recruitment, retention and general staff management. They tend to have disconnected systems for job advertisement, applicant tracking, doing security checks, HR, payroll, career progression and staff resourcing.   

This lack of connectivity is the patchwork problem. It’s the gap between holding siloed information and the information seamlessly coming together to provide actionable insights. This gap prevents HR and operations from running efficiently and delivering the best outcomes for their staff. 

As a result, staff can become frustrated, feel undervalued and experience poorer wellbeing. Issues that could have been identified and addressed earlier may go unnoticed, gradually affecting morale and job satisfaction. Over time, these challenges can contribute to increased staff turnover, making an already difficult recruitment and retention landscape even harder for schools to navigate. 

Some of the most common factors impacting teacher retention are those that could be better managed with efficient systems:  

• Workload 
• Stress and wellbeing 
• Appreciation 
• Career development 
• Student behaviour 

A more joined-up view of staff management can help the right people identify and address issues before they contribute to staff resignations. 

Using data to spot recruitment and retention risks

Reducing the patchwork problem starts with bringing workforce data together. 

With more connected systems, schools have a clearer view of their staff. This makes day-to-day staff management more efficient, but the benefits don't stop there. When recruitment, HR, payroll and workforce data are connected, schools are better able to spot patterns that would otherwise be hidden across multiple systems. They can: 

• Monitor recruitment trends 

• Understand retention patterns 

• Identify pressure points 

• Plan workforce needs proactively 

• React to changes without extra cost 

This is particularly valuable at a time when schools are under increasing pressure to recruit and retain staff. 

Without a joined-up view, schools are often forced to work reactively, responding to resignations, recruitment challenges or staffing shortages after they have already become a problem. The right information may exist somewhere in the organisation, but it is often spread across different systems and teams. 

A connected view of staff helps schools identify potential risks earlier. For example, they may be able to spot departments experiencing higher turnover, roles that consistently take longer to fill, or areas where absence levels are creating additional workload pressures. 

Over time, this creates a shift from reactive staff management to proactive workforce planning. Rather than constantly responding to disruption, schools can make more informed decisions about recruitment, retention and resourcing before problems escalate. This reduces pressure on HR, operations and finance teams, while helping create a more stable environment for staff and students. 

What are leading schools doing? 

Leading schools repeatedly use the same strategies to retain staff: 

• Connect recruitment with staff development and retention 
• Invest in staff development all year, not seasonally 
• Create internal talent pipelines rather than relying on external recruitment 
• Reduce workload with more efficient systems 
• Build culture that naturally encourages retention 

Want to learn more about what connected schools do differently?

Recruitment and retention challenges are often symptoms of a broader problem: disconnected systems and fragmented information. 

In our latest report, ‘The patchwork problem’, we explore how connected school systems are helping leaders improve staff retention, strengthen safeguarding, support pupils more effectively and make better use of limited resources. 

Download the report to discover: 

• How to identify recruitment and retention risks earlier, reducing staff turnover, repeat hiring costs and reliance on supply cover 

• How leading schools connect recruitment, HR, payroll and compliance data to create a complete view of every staff member 

• How connected workforce planning helps you stay recruitment-compliant, protect budgets and build a sustainable pipeline of future talent and leaders