How successful schools serving vulnerable communities retain the commitment of early career teachers: a socio-cultural investigation

There is a persistent trend of high attrition among early career teachers (ECTs) in England, with the DfE consistently recording more than 30% of ECT leaving the profession within their first five years and The Nuffield Foundation reporting that current recruitment targets for secondary schools are likely to be missed by around 50% for staffing the 2023/24 school year ahead. Within this, the effects are particularly acute schools serving economically vulnerable communities. Pre- pandemic figures from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) show that the gap in educational attainment already leaves economically vulnerable pupils over 18 months behind their more affluent peers by the time they take their GCSEs.

In contrast to research on teachers who leave or intend to leave the profession in a post pandemic context, this project focuses on understanding why teachers in schools in challenging circumstances serving disadvantaged pupils, stay. The study will gather and analyse the perspectives of teachers in their first six years of teaching over a two-year period. The interplay of factors which have been shown to influence teachers' commitment will be explored, including: relationships of collegiality and trust: feelings of pride, moral purpose, confidence, identity and efficacy: personal factors: leaders' values, qualities, skills, actions, policies and practices.

The teachers will be drawn from a selection of primary and secondary schools serving economically vulnerable communities which are considered successful due, for example, to consistently higher than expected student achievement. In doing so, the research will seek to provide insights for policy makers and school leaders into how and why early career teachers maintain their commitment.