British schools in crisis as rising number of teachers quit

Photo:Courtesy

Schools in England face a growing sense of crisis as they struggle to retain and develop their teaching workforce, a report by politicians warned.

The House of Commons Public Account Committee report said the number of high school teachers has been falling since 2010, citing a variety of factors.

 Particularly worrying, say the MPs in their report, is a number of secondary school teachers have been quitting the profession for reasons other than retirement since 2012.

"Many teachers have cited heavy workloads as a reason for their departure. At the same time, pupil numbers are rising and the Department for Education (DfE) expects schools to make significant savings from using their staff more efficiently," their report adds.

The report accuses the department of giving insufficient priority to teacher retention.