State of Education Report 2017 state-of-education-booklet-Final-WEB | Page 39
Governor perspective
In your opinion, what would do most to encourage more
people to get into teaching?
Six most-cited answers
79%
Better work-life balance
Managing staff wellbeing and morale is expected to be a
challenge over the next academic year for 47% of school
governors. When it comes to teacher recruitment and
retention, one-third (33%) of primary school governors and half
(51%) of secondary school governors expect to face a challenge,
which chimes with the views of their school leader counterparts.
For governing boards in primary schools, the recruitment and
retention of governors is more pressing: four in 10 (43%) expect
this to be a challenge in the year ahead, alongside three in 10
(31%) governors in secondary schools. Employers providing
more time off for their staff to be governors would do most to
encourage more people into the role and therefore help solve
this problem, according to almost a quarter (24%) of those
surveyed. The government also has a role to play: one-fifth
(19%) of governors think that government efforts to raise the
profile of this volunteer role could help bring more people into
school governance. More than one in 10 (13%) governors thinks
that making the role paid would help.
52%
Better pay and benefits
45%
More positive reporting
about teaching in the media
32%
Reduced working hours
A fifth (20%) of governors expect senior leadership recruitment
and retention to pose a challenge for them over the 2017/18
academic year, with little difference between school phase
(20% in primary schools and 23% in secondaries). Two-thirds
(67%) think that a better work-life balance would do most to
encourage more people to become headteachers, and better
leadership training is key for over a third (35%). Once again, the
role of the media comes into play: 35% of governors believe
more people would be encouraged into headship if education
was reported on more favourably in the press.
14%
Lower tuition fees for
teacher training
12%
A different approach to
teacher training
<1% – Don’t know
<1% – None of the above
MORE ABOUT THE KEY: WWW.THEKEYSUPPORT.COM
PAGE 39