More than a third of school leaders are thinking of leaving the profession early, citing the pressure of workload, stress and school funding, Tes can reveal. 

Only half of the headteachers surveyed in new research are confident that they will stay in their roles until retirement - amid concerns that schools are already struggling to fill leadership positions.

The NAHT headteachers’ union has published figures showing that for the fifth consecutive year, schools are struggling to recruit across all roles, from teachers to senior leaders. 

And the retention of experienced teachers is also revealed as a growing concern.

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Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT, told Tes that action was needed to stops heads from walking away.

He said: “More and more is being expected of schools and their leaders and yet funding and support for schools is being cut. This creates more and more pressure. At the same time, the methods used to hold schools to account have become increasingly punitive. One bad year of test or exam results for your school can lead to losing your job.

“When the system is causing this many leaders to consider walking away, something needs to change.”

A breakdown of the survey responses seen by Tes shows half of school leaders are unsure about their future in the profession.

Just over a third (34 per cent) of members are considering quitting before retirement and another 16 per cent were unsure about their future.

This is at a time when two-thirds of schools struggle to recruit school leaders and 12 per cent failed to recruit at all.

The most common reasons for heads looking to quit early were the need for a better work-life balance, mentioned by 78 per cent of heads, and workload pressures, mentioned by 77 per cent.

A high proportion of respondents also highlighted stress (62 per cent) and funding pressures (59 per cent).

The NAHT is also calling on the government to do more to retain teachers - particularly those in their mid or late career.

Mr Whiteman said: “Teaching can be one of the most rewarding careers imaginable, yet workload, high-stakes accountability, insufficient funding, and continuing real-terms cuts to teachers’ and school leaders’ pay drives many committed professionals out of teaching.

“The secretary of state has made finding a solution to the recruitment and retention crisis one of his department’s key priorities, and NAHT has welcomed the broad intent of the DfE’s [Department for Education] recently published recruitment and retention strategy; the centrepiece of which is the Early Career Framework, which could dramatically improve the experiences of newly qualified teachers.

“But more is needed to retain mid and late career teachers.”

Patrick Foley, headteacher of Southborough Primary School in Bromley, is proposing a motion at this weekend’s NAHT conference calling for the government to take steps specifically to help retain experienced teachers, including opportunities for sabbatical and career breaks, and restoring the differentials between education pay grades. 

He said: “Last year, the government ignored the STRB’s recommendation that all teachers and school leaders should have the same pay uplift, and instead awarded more experienced teachers and leaders a real-terms pay cut.

“While the pay rise for new teachers was sorely needed, this was a real blow for retention of existing staff. We need more experienced teachers to stay in the profession - they are the school leaders of the future. But they won’t stay unless they are better treated.”

The NAHT survey also reveals that:

• 37 per cent of school leaders say they are struggling to recruit due to the number of teachers leaving the profession - up from 15 per cent in 2014.
• Schools are struggling to fill leadership roles. More than a quarter of schools (27 per cent) failed to recruit for head of school positions - up 15 percentage points from 2017.
• After failing to recruit, 72 per cent of schools then went to supply agencies.
• Almost half of schools’ senior leadership teams covered teaching hours because of a failure to recruit.
• The number of schools who say budget pressures have affected their ability to get the right candidate have increased from 9 per cent five years ago to 35 per cent in 2018.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The education secretary has been clear that there are no great schools without great teachers. Despite there being more than 450,000 teachers - 11,900 more than in 2011 - with increasing numbers returning to the profession, it is his top priority is to make sure teaching remains an attractive and fulfilling profession.

“That’s exactly why we published the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, which provides teachers with more early careers support and opportunities for flexible and part-time working, to ensure we continue to attract and retain more great teachers.

“We are also ensuring teachers are fairly rewarded and recently announced a rise of up to 3.5 per cent for classroom teachers, funded by a £500 million government grant, in addition to the tax-free bursaries worth up to £26,000 for trainee teachers in priority subjects.”