New Year New Job? Plus morale tracker and faith schools

Morale tracker

Strength of morale can be a tricky thing to measure – after all, ask a teacher what their morale is like after a five-period day on a week where parents evenings have followed data drops and ‘mock deep dives’ and you’re likely to get a different answer to if you asked mid-August.

To try and mitigate against this, there is a morale question we ask at the same time every year: do you feel that your morale is higher or lower than it was a year ago?

That way the chances of it being a five period day, or the afternoon a parent called and complained about a sanction all evens out. Plus, you’re comparing yourself with yourself. We can see if generally people are feeling more, or less, upbeat about their job – or, if they’re holding steady.

Looking back over time, that year-on-year comparison took a nosedive in December 2020. A massive 26% of teachers felt morale was much lower than in previous years.

Unsurprisingly, this has taken a long time to recover (remember, each year is comparing to the previous year) and in 2024 14% have lower morale than they did last year – 12 percentage points lower than 2020, but still 3 percentage points higher than 2019.

Are some teachers struggling with morale more than others? When comparing primary and secondary classroom teachers, there are a greater number in primary feeling low morale compared to last year (17% vs 12%).

However – there is no difference in the number reporting higher morale (much higher 8%, somewhat higher 25%). This might suggest that in primary schools there are a larger number of classroom teachers finding they have lower morale than the previous year.

A good sense of morale among staff is crucial for retention and job satisfaction, so this measurement is a key one to watch in the future. If you’re interested in measuring morale at your school – School Surveys have these suggestions for you in their morale report.

Teachers on the move

If teachers have low morale, one way to remedy that is by finding a new job at a new school.

For 16%, 2025 is the year you change roles, saying it is ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ that you will leave your school this year. A small number (4%) are so keen to go they were browsing jobs on Boxing Day!

Are some teachers more on the fence about leaving than others? To some extent, yes. Classroom teachers in the most affluent schools are the least likely to want to jump ship, with 40% ‘very unlikely’ to leave compared to just 29% in the most deprived schools.

But what are the main reasons for teachers deciding to make the change?

Over 1,000 teachers answered this open question and their responses analysed to come up with the top five reasons to say they’re going.

1. Unhappy about workload

Problems with workload range from the volume “unmanageable” to specific issues with the type of work, for example, dealing with parental complaints “I dread looking at my emails for fear of another tirade”.

2. Poor leadership

Leadership issues can vary from “toxic work environments” to problems with a percpetion of leaders “playing favourites” and not managing expectations leading to teacher burnout.

3. Poor student behaviour

Student behaviour has led to some wanting to leave, with a teacher reporting how “staff are physically assaulted daily and nothing is done” and another finding that “I never feel like I’m teaching but firefighting”.

4. Career progression

The reasons for career progression range from those who want roles that their school can’t offer, with one teacher saying they have “run out” of promotions at their current school so have to look elsewhere.

5. Objections with the education system

Teachers who feel the education system isn’t for them anymore give a range of reasons, including those who object to the MAT system, saying that joining one “goes against all my principles”. Others say that the government’s expectations are “unreasonable” and others point to “underfunding” as the problem.

Between January and May, teacher recruitment season really hots up. We will be tracking the experiences of applying, being interviewed, and offered or turned down positions. If you have a teacher-recruitment related question you would like to ask, get in touch by emailing england@teachertapp.co.uk or by using ‘contact us’ in the app.

Faith schools

There has been an increase in those who strongly support phasing out faith schools, increasing from 20% ‘strongly agree’ in 2019 to 26% in 2024.

General agreement has also increased, from 50% in 2019 to 62% in 2024.

There has also been an increase in those who disagree that schools should be allowed to base admissions on religion, rising from 70% in 2019 to 80% in 2024.

Support for NEW state-funded religious schools is also declining, with 32% agreeing no new ones should open, compared to 24% in 2019.

Do teachers who attend church services support faith schools?

Teachers who did NOT attend a church service over the Christmas period were more likely to support the withdrawal of funding for faith schools.

72% of teachers who didn’t go to a church service agree that faith schools should have their funding phased out. In comparison, just 38% of teachers who DID attend a church service agree that faith schools should be phased out.