Why Finding Great Teachers Has Become So Difficult?

It’s no secret that over the years, it has become more and more difficult to recruit and retain teachers. In 2023, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, wrote in his annual report that ‘Current realities in education and social care include […] recruitment and retention issues, and increasing demands for additional services that are already overstretched.’ A 2024 report by Ofsted opened with the statement: ‘Many schools are facing challenges recruiting and retaining teachers’, and the idea that ‘teaching recruitment is at its lowest ebb’ (from Emma Hollis, the CEO of the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers) is one that is both grim and commonly accepted.

It’s clear that, unlike in so many other sectors, the burden is now falling on schools to find teachers, not the other way round. The number of applications per teaching post is decreasing, in stark contrast to most every other position in the job market, and findinga truly qualified candidate is becoming harder by the year. Schools sift through piles of CVs, they advertise and readvertise for positions that have many applications but so few real candidates, and struggle to keep the teachers they already have employed.

All of this leads to one question: Why are teachers (especially good ones) so hard to find? Recently, I found a fantastic quote (from the education department at University College London) that helps illustrate the problem:

‘The reasons cited for becoming a teacher seem largely altruistic - wanting to “make a difference” wanting to work with young people and love of their subject. The reasons for leaving or for thinking of leaving were workload and work/life balance […]’

Teachers are being forced abroad, or out of the profession entirely, because of how unforgiving the work is and how unfairly they are compensated for it. Whereas an investment banker can point to the benefits of a massive salary, even as their work encroaches quickly on the rest of their life, teachers have no such assurances. They teach because they love to, and because so many of them genuinely believe in the work they do – making the classroom a safer and more fulfilling place for children around the world.

In a job market that prioritises quantity over quality, where candidates are reduced to names and numbers on an infinite list of applicants, and where passions seems secondary to the practical benefits of the workplace, teachers make a conscious choice to prioritise individual relationships and making an impact. We want to embody that same passion, through the madness of the current job market and the intense pressures of education. Both schools and teachers deserve an agency that understands their individual profiles and caters to their specific wants and needs to ensure that they are truly fulfilled.

Teachers are some of the important people in all of our lives. We only want to ensure that they find the schools that best suit them, so that they can continue to do what they love in an environment that fully supports them.