Teaching Matters: The Recruitment, Employment and Retention of Teachers Book

What matters most in an education system is that schools have enough good teachers. Yet, as this, the fourth volume in Politeias Comparing Standards series indicates, schools across the country are facing shortages. Teaching Matters: The Recruitment, Employment and Retention of Teachers provides a picture of a system in crisis. Not enough of the right trainees apply to train, or remain in the profession. Many teachers are ill-equipped to teach the subjects they do. At the same time existing teachers are leaving, at the rate of around 9 per cent a year. Heads, too, are leaving and their jobs can stay vacant. Politeias Education Commission identify the reasons for the crisis and the study concludes with a number of robust proposals for a change in policy which will encourage, and keep, able teachers in school. This Publication was produced by Politeia, a Political Think Tank which acts as a forum for social and economic thinking. Its aim is to encourage reflection, discussion and debate about the place of the state in the daily lives of men and women across the range of issues which affect them, from employment and tax to education, health and pensions.Read More