Ten Statistics That Should Be Researched: Number 4 Number of NQT drop outs

How many people are out there who have passed ITT but never completed an NQT year? How many people never even start their NQT year? How many people in other professions qualify to do the job, and then work for less than a year in that actual job before leaving for good?

The lack of jobs in teaching mean that a lot of teacher training graduates leaving in 2009 and 2010 have still not had a chance to start their NQT, or have perhaps begun it in a temporary or supply position and have not been able to secure another one in order to complete it. These are not the people I’m referring to, and it is actually a relatively recent phenomenon.

For a longer amount of time, new teachers are securing jobs and leaving them after less than a year. Why is this?  Are PGCEs and other ITT programmes not preparing teachers properly for the job? Are Senior Management Teams not held accountable enough for their staff retention figures? Teacher training lecturers, and teachers themselves with regards to their students are made to be responsible for those that leave, so why aren’t school leaders?

If personal accounts I have looked at are anything to go by, then there are two main reasons I think this is happening. The first is that if a PGCE is tough, the NQT year is tougher, and the working conditions are just too bad. Thus people drop out at this stage, having coped with the ITT but are not able to ramp it up enough to cope at this next stage.

The second, sadly, is that NQTs are just not supported enough and often get bullied by more senior members of staff. This of course happens on teacher training placements as well, but for most they are achievable because they only last a few short months.

When the placement becomes a permanent full time post, the poor treatment is simply unbearable. Most new teachers never find a supportive home in which to settle down, and therefore leave for good.


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