Research and analysis

What teachers do after leaving & implications for pay-setting

This research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) aimed to inform the setting of teacher pay over the next few years.

From:
Office of Manpower Economics
Published
11 January 2022

Applies to England

Documents

What teachers do next after leaving and the implications for pay-setting

PDF, 779 KB, 88 pages

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Details

This research was commissioned by the Office of Manpower Economics. Key findings include:

  • only two per cent of teachers who left teaching switched to a different professional or managerial career

  • more than two-thirds (72 per cent) of teachers who left for another job remained working in the wider education and childcare sector after leaving

  • teachers who left teaching for another job tended to earn more than when they were a teacher, but less than otherwise similar teachers who stayed in teaching

  • earnings after leaving teaching tended to differ across gender, phase and experience

  • relative to similar teachers who stayed in teaching, female, primary and experienced teachers who left teaching tended to earn less than male, secondary and inexperienced teachers who left

  • teacher pay appears to have become relatively less competitive compared to outside options over the last decade, particularly for early-career teachers

Published 11 January 2022