Why 40% of teachers leave within 10 years: workload, leadership culture and rebuilding teaching as a profession

Welcome to Series 3 of Trust Matters: Lessons in Leadership - the podcast where we explore the big ideas, challenges and lived experiences shaping the future of trust and school leadership. We’re opening the series with a powerful and timely conversation about one of the most urgent issues facing education today: how we make teaching an attractive, sustainable profession again. Joining us is Baroness Mary Bousted, Chair of The Teaching Commission and one of the most influential voices in education. Mary began her career as an English teacher before moving into teacher training and, ultimately, union leadership. She went on to serve as Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, representing more than half a million members, and has been a tireless advocate for teachers’ working lives, professional autonomy and wellbeing. In this episode, we explore the findings of the Teaching Commission’s Shaping the Future of Teaching report, which reveals the scale of the recruitment and retention crisis - including the fact that 40% of teachers leave the profession within 10 years, and that it now takes 10 new teachers to replace every 7 who leave. Mary reflects on her leadership journey, what she learned leading one of the UK’s largest unions, and what continues to drive her sense of purpose. We dig into the roots of excessive workload, the role of leadership culture in staff wellbeing, the impact of poverty and shrinking public services on schools, and why flexible working must become a serious part of the conversation. This is a thoughtful, challenging and deeply informed conversation about leadership, trust, and what it will really take to rebuild teaching as a profession people want to stay in. LINKS For more on how The Key can support your trust, visit: key.sc/trustsupport Subscribe to our newsletter, Trust Matters: key.sc/trustmatters Connect with Mary on LinkedIn. Read Mary’s book: Support Not Surveillance: How to solve the teacher retention crisis All views expressed in this episode are the guest’s own. Any mention of commercial providers, resources or products is on the guest’s recommendation and should not be considered an endorsement by The Key.