MORE primary school teachers in Wales are leaving their jobs than in England – but the trend is reversed when it comes to secondaries, a report has suggested.

Researchers said their findings challenge their original thinking that the Welsh Government’s approach to policymaking was associated with universally lower rates of teachers quitting.

Looking specifically at classroom teachers, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that the leaving rate – known as the attrition rate – among primary classroom teachers was 0.6 per centage points higher in Wales compared with England.

Among secondary classroom teachers, the difference was also 0.6 per centage points, but this time with lower attrition in England, the NFER said.

The attrition rate was defined as the percentage of teachers leaving the state-funded sector between the 2019/20 academic year and the 2020/21 academic year.

The report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, used teacher census data to compare rates in Wales with rates in schools in areas of England with similar economic and contextual characteristics, such as unemployment rates, wage levels outside of teaching and levels of pupil disadvantage.

Researchers said that education policy decisions made by the government in Wales since devolution have focused on a “producerist” approach which aims to prioritise teachers more in overall decision-making.

In the report, they wanted to test their theory that this could lead to a reduced workload for teachers – a reason most cited by ex-teachers when asked why they left the profession – and therefore see lower rates of departure than in England.

Jack Worth, report co-author and NFER school workforce lead, said: “Given the different approaches taken by education policymakers in England and Wales since devolution, we might reasonably think that teacher retention rates could be higher in Wales compared to England.

“However, newly-available data that allows us to make robust comparisons of retention rates seems to show that it is a lot more complex than that.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said more research is needed into why teachers are leaving the profession and why rates differ.

He said: “This is an interesting piece of research and the finding that teacher leaving rates between England and Wales are not uniform in one direction deserves further analysis to better understand the underlying reasons.

“However, what is certain is that in both jurisdictions the overriding reasons for teacher attrition are similar – pay and workload.

“Teacher pay has been eroded over the course of the past decade by government-implemented below-inflation pay awards which have made salaries increasingly uncompetitive.”

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “By taking a social partnership approach, we support the teaching profession by ensuring their pay, terms and conditions are designed to best suit the profession here in Wales and provide higher salaries and allowances for both new and more experienced teachers than in England.

“We will continue to take action to support our invaluable workforce so that they can continue to provide the very best education for pupils.”

England’s Department for Education recognises there is more to do to attract and keep good schoolteachers and that action is being taken to improve recruitment, retention and quality of teaching.

A spokesperson said the Government has proposed the highest pay awards in a generation for new teachers, and further pay awards for more experienced teachers and leaders.

They said: “These proposed pay increases sit alongside fully funded high-quality professional development available at every stage of a teacher’s career, helping to raise the status of the teaching profession and make it an attractive career.”