What works in attracting and retaining teachers in challenging schools and areas?

Abstract

This paper describes a systematic review of international research evidence identifying the most promising approaches to attracting and retaining teachers in hard-to-staff areas. Only empirical studies that employed a causal or suitable comparative design and had robust measurements of recruitment and retention outcomes were considered. Studies were assessed for strength of evidence taking into account threats to trustworthiness which may bias the results. A search of 13 electronic databases and Google/Google scholar identified 20 distinct research reports that met the inclusion criteria. Financial incentives was the only approach that seemsto work in attracting teachers to challenging schools, but not effective in retaining them. To keep teachers working in challenging schools a supportive and conducive working environment would be needed. Other approaches such as mentoring, support, or teacher development do not have strong evidence of effectiveness, largely because much of the research on these approaches was weak. More robust research capable of addressing causal questions is therefore urgently required to determine their impact in attracting and retaining good teachers in areas where they are most needed. Long-term solution would be to change schoolallocation policies and improve economic conditions in such areas so that the problem of staffing does not arise.

Who wants to be a teacher? Findings from a survey of undergraduates in England

“…Consequently, many policy initiatives have addressed shortages through pay and other financial incentives, such as bursaries and scholarships, to attract more people into the teaching profession. There is some evidence that these approaches are effective, at least in terms of attracting people who were already considering teaching anyway (See et al 2020a). However, financial incentives are not enough to keep teachers in schools once the payments are removed.…”

“…These include targeted advertising, bursaries and scholarships for shortage subjects, loan forgiveness, paid internships, incentive payments for teaching in shortage regions, and more specific local approaches like the UK Future Scholars programme. These programmes are rarely robustly evaluated, and there is little evidence that any of them are effective (See et al 2020b).…”

Assessing the impact of Pupil Premium funding on primary school segregation and attainment

“…Channelling extra funding to attract and retain teachers in disadvantaged areas and schools has also not been found to be very effective (Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor 2005;Feng 2014). It generally does not make any difference once the funding ceases (See et al 2020).…”

Attracting Prospective STEM Teachers Using Realistic Job Previews: A Mixed Methods Study

“…However, in education settings, the vast majority of teacher recruitment efforts have been based on promoting the personal utility of teaching (through financial incentives, workload reductions) and the social utility of teaching (e.g., Every lesson shapes a life, DfE 2020), often at considerable cost to taxpayers (e.g., Carr, 2020). Broad messages to promote personal and social utility of teaching are possibly effective in attracting applicants, but less effective in retaining teachers in the long term (e.g., See et al, 2020). Little attention in education has been paid to developing recruitment strategies that use a person-environment fit framework, where fit messages are provided to candidates to help them evaluate the match between their personal characteristics and those required for success in teaching.…”

“…Although these personal and social attractants may be successful for initial recruitment, their impact tends to dissipate or disappear when the incentive is removed (See, Morris, Gorard, & El Soufi, 2020). The current COVID-19 crisis and impending economic crisis may temporarily increase the number of ITE applicants, as recent graduates find it more difficult to find vacancies in businesses that may reduce their intake of new employees due to economic constriction.…”