1. RETAIN http://www.retain-project.eu
UK Project Team: Karen Walshe, Lindsay Hetherington, Nigel Skinner, Nick Givens , Keith Postlethwaite, Andrew Dean

2. The Project
The EU-funded RETAIN project is a collaborative research project involving partners from five countries (Denmark, Belgium, Turkey, Spain and the UK) who have contrasting socio-economic-political contexts and differing teacher retention issues.

3. Project Aim
Overall aim of the RETAIN Project is to help schools to create and develop an inclusive and creative environment which will improve the retention of high quality teachers.

4. Project Objectives Specific objectives of the RETAIN project are:
To explore issues relating to teacher retention from international perspectives across the five partner countries
To develop and trial a set of tools designed to help school managers and teachers to create an inclusive and creative working environment

5. The Problem: Teacher Retention
In the UK, teacher turnover remains high in comparison with other countries.
Over 10 years ( ), 12% of NQTs left after 1 year.
Between 2000 and 2009, 28% left after 5 years.
Only 80% of trainees who qualified in 2013/14 were employed in teaching posts within 6 months.
Recent figures estimate that almost 40% of NQTs quit the profession within a year of qualifying (the exodus of new recruits has almost tripled in six years).

6. According to research…..
Retention problems affects secondary schools to a greater extent than primary schools
Particular shortages in certain subject areas, notably Science and Mathematics, where recruitment is more challenging and leaving rates for existing Maths and Science teachers are above average.
Teacher turnover is higher in disadvantaged urban schools (employ greater numbers of novice teachers)
More early career teachers leave the profession
Regional differences in teacher recruitment and retention issues exist, with greater vacancy rates in London, the East of England and the South East.

7. The solution? Research suggests that teacher resilience is key.
There are a wide range of professional, social, emotional and motivational factors which impact on teachers’ sense of their own resilience.
These include both personal and contextual ‘risk’ and ‘protective’ factors, summarised in the table on the following slide:
Eley D, Cloninger C, Walters L, Laurence C, Synnott R, Wilkinson D (2013) The relationship between resilience and personality traits in doctors: implications for enhancing well being Available at
Resilience was associated with a personality trait pattern that is mature, responsible, optimistic, persevering, and cooperative. Findings support the inclusion of resilience as a component of optimal functioning and well being in doctors. Strategies for enhancing resilience should consider the key traits that drive or impair it.
NOTE TO KEITH – THANKS FOR THE LINK! I THINK THESE TRAITS ARE SUMMARISED/INCLUDED IN THE TABLE ON THE NEXT SLIDE…

8. Teacher Resilience Factors: Research synthesis
Individual
Contextual
Protective
Altruism/vocation, Tenacity, Intrinsic motivation, Humour, Flexibility, Risk-taking, Self-efficacy, Agency, Problem-solving, Social competence, Active coping skills, Professional ambition, Self-reflection, Commitment to professional development, Good teaching skills, Confidence in teaching ability
Supportive school culture / peer support, Supportive leadership, Mentor support, Good relationships with students, Social/family support, Quality of pre-service teacher education course
Risk
Lack of self-confidence, Difficulty asking for help, Conflict between personal beliefs and school practices
Pupil disruption, Meeting needs of disadvantaged students, Lack of leadership support, Lack of resources, Poor relationships with parents, Isolation, Poor relationships with colleagues, Scrutiny/performance management culture, Lack of power over teaching decisions, Workload, Lack of mentoring, Lack of security, Insecure subject/curriculum knowledge
NB: I HAVE EMBOLDENED THE BITS I WANT TO POINT OUT AS RELEVANT FOR TEACHER EDUCATION FOR THE OFSTED GOOD PRACTICE MEETING.

9. Research suggests that a supportive school culture that is ‘integrated’ in supporting both experienced and novice teachers is a contributing factor for teacher retention and the development of teacher resilience.
Project set out to develop and trial a set of tools (toolkit) to support school leaders and teachers in developing an inclusive, creative, and integrative school culture. We argue that this tools can be effective in mentor/SLT support for PGCE trainees.

10. Collaborative project with 25 schools in total
The Project
Collaborative project with 25 schools in total

11. Collaborative Research Project
Each project partner worked with 5 schools in their country. During the course of the project, due to school drop-out, the UK project team worked with members of the senior leadership team and teachers in a total of six schools in the South West

12. Step 1: Review of the Literature
In order to develop effective tools that could be used within a range of national contexts, the project began by exploring the literature and recent research concerning the retention of teachers and their reasons for remaining in or leaving the teaching profession
All upper case is hard to read…..

13. Literature Review: Reasons for staying
Vocation
Professional freedom
Supportive colleagues

14. Literature Review: Reasons for leaving
Workload
Seeking new challenges
School situation (e.g. poor behaviour, poor management)
Salary
Personal circumstances
Decline in public respect for the profession

15. Step 2: Preliminary teacher survey
In order to develop effective tools that could be used within a range of national contexts, the project began by exploring teachers’ perceptions of reasons why teachers might choose to remain in or leave the teaching profession

16. Participants Newly/Recently qualified teachers (N = 10)
Senior Teachers (N = 21)
School Managers (N = 4)
Two community primary schools in Exeter
Small rural primary school on the border of Devon/Somerset
11-16 comprehensive school in Exeter
11 to 19 Church of England Academy in Somerset

17. Reasons for staying in the profession
Love of job
Sense of teaching as a vocation
Good perks – salary; pension; holidays; job security
Quality of support
Sense of accomplishment e.g. seeing students’ progress – academically and holistically
Variable nature of job
Need to stay e.g. financial commitments
Sense of responsibility for students

18. Reasons for leaving the profession
Workload (excessive, unmanageable, unreasonable (impact on family life), unexpected (NQT) unrealistic, and inappropriate - focus on administration rather than teaching)
Balancing act - keeping on top of planning, marking, assessing, reporting; Not knowing what to prioritise
Focus on meeting standards/[unrealistic] targets (rather than on enjoyment of learning)
Constant sense of accountability/observations/continuous monitoring/ Ofsted!
Performance related pay
Pressure from parents/government/governors

19. Poor public perception
Breakdown of the profession (e.g. unqualified teachers)
Lack of support; bullying from management; A lot of work not valued/rewarded
Parents not understanding they need to do their part
Prescriptive curriculum and lack of resources
Class size (NQT), poor student behavior, apathetic students
Fatigue

20. Key Factor = Stress The result of attempting to cope with workload
Too many things outside of teacher’s own control
Not wanting to let anyone down

21. DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH the PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
The Toolkit
DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH the PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

22. Five Themes
Differentiation and inclusion - inclusive management, awareness raising practices, inclusive teaching skills
Co-construction, co-design and collaboration – developing a professional learning community
Collaboration with the external world particularly parents and their expectations.
Stress management to cope with new demands, new technologies, tests, curriculum goals and bureaucracy.
Professional identity - in increasingly results oriented and change dominated schools. environment.

23. Tools designed to …
Be bottom-up rather than top-down development tools, requiring both a high degree of managerial engagement and a high degree of participation
Be open-ended processes rather than closed processes, and
introduce changes through encouraging reflection and critical dialogue

24. THEME
TOOLS 1
Differentiation and inclusion
(Turkey)
Inclusion Compass
Reverse Mentoring 2
Co-construction, co-design and collaboration (UK)
Framework for Collaborative Dialogue
Lesson Study 3
Collaboration with the external world
(Denmark) 4
Stress management
(Barcelona)
Role analysis
Analysis of organisation’s role
Vision
World Cafe 5
Professional identity
(Belgium)
SWOT analysis ( characteristics of a good teacher)
Situate oneself on a line (teacher identity)
Changing / Evolving representations of the role of ‘teacher’
Edward de Bono’s six thinking hats

25. Co-construction, Co-design & Collaboration
Strong link between collaboration and positive school outcomes; high levels of motivation; and effective implementation of change.
Research suggests that there are three key issues in teacher retention that collaborative working may help to address:
Teacher resilience
Risk management
Innovation
The tools in this theme are designed to support senior leaders in scaffolding collaboration between teams of teachers at all levels to address these broad challenges of teacher retention and to enable schools and teachers to focus on further developing their classroom practice.

26. Tool 1: Framework for Collaborative Dialogue
Rooted in Activity Theory – supporting teachers in exploring how they can take action for change in relation to a key issue/problem. Activity Theory notion of ‘tools’ Designed to scaffold collaborative conversations
Tools fit nicely with the project idea of a toolbox

27. Worked Example of the Framework for Collaborative Dialogue (FCD)

28. Tool 2: Lesson Study Supported by the FCD
Supports teacher collaboration to address a key issue or develop an innovative and creative pedagogy
A group of teachers (usually 2-3) undertake to collaboratively plan a lesson which one will teach whilst the other(s) observe.
Fosters shared ownership of the lesson
Enables critically reflective thinking about the impact of the teaching on pupils’ learning

30. Flexible
Schools may use both tools in a wide variety of ways, for example:
Whole school approach
Members of the SLT
Team of teachers e.g. a department
Triad of teachers e.g. SLT; Senior teacher; Novice teacher
Team of teachers and support staff (which may include parents and pupils)

31. The Trialing Process: UK
THEME(S) SELECTED by UK SCHOOLS
TOOL(S) SELECTED 1 3
Co-construction, co-design and collaboration
Framework for Collaborative Dialogue
Lesson Study
Stress Management
World Café 4
Lesson study
Inclusion and Differentiation
Reverse mentoring 5

32. Data Collection: Interview Questions
Which of the themes/tools did you decide to trial and why? What did you hope to achieve?
Who was involved in making those decisions and why? How were the decisions made?
How did you set up the trialing process? Who was involved? Why? How?
How did you go about trialing each tool?
What were some of the difficulties encountered? How did you manage those difficulties?

33. To what extent do you think those difficulties were to do with the design of the tool or your particular school context?
To what extent did you achieve what you set out to achieve? How do you know?
Which aspects of the tool(s) if any were particularly effective in helping you to achieve your goal(s)?
How might you wish to adapt this tool if you were to use it again?
What advice would you give to another school wishing to adopt this tool?

34. What did we learn?
Feedback suggests that when implemented as intended, the toolbox enabled schools to achieve what they set out to achieve, particularly in relation to:
strengthening opportunities for collaborative work within the school
encouraging staff to look at issues, difficulties and tensions with ‘fresh eyes’
providing opportunities for staff to feel ‘listened to’
identifying tools that would help to improve teacher retention

35. Tool 1: Framework for Collaborative Dialogue
Helped to give a clear focus
Enabled new ways of looking an issue
Encouraged discussion - multiple voices rather than one dominant voice
Particularly helpful when discussing issues where it is evident that staff will have quite differing opinions
Gave opportunities for staff to lead the conversation rather than members of the Senior Leadership Team
Resulted in a better (higher) quality of focused dialogue

36. However…..
Important to identify a primary focus before using the framework
Be clear about whether the template should be completed or just used as a prompt for discussion
More support needed to help teachers to identify, access and discuss relevant research
Very effective when combined with Lesson Study as a focus for discussion in the beginning to help to identify the issue/topic/strategy/resource for the lesson and as a prompt for discussion concerning the effectiveness of the Lesson study lesson

37. Tool 2: Lesson Study Staff responded very positively to this tool
Provides concrete opportunity for staff to collaborate and to share good practice
Very supportive tool which provides teachers with a safe way to experiment with new ideas and take more risks in a non judgemental environment
Promotes self-evaluation and reflection
Resulted in noticeable improvement in pupils’ achievements

38. However….
To be implemented properly needs sufficient time and resources e.g. being able to release teachers from lessons in order to observe.
Hard to do in a small school with limited staff and resources.

39. Tool 3: World café
Gave energy, focus and structure to small group discussions
Ensured that all staff shared their views and were listened to
Enabled all teachers to reach a conclusion about the issue under review
Consequently staff had ownership of the conclusions reached and ‘bought-in’ to the proposed changes

40. Promoting Factors
Collaborative nature of the project team (GSE project team and steering group)
Some of our schools in particular, recognised that they had retention issues and were keen to address these
The toolbox was most effective when it was integrated into already existing CPD goals and opportunities

41. Promoting Factors
Strong positive trusting professional relationships between school managers and teachers. School managers with attitudes that genuinely complemented the values and approach of the project were able to make best use of its contents.
School selected tools which were seen to be relevant for the context within which they work.
The initial success of some of the tools trialled in round 1 was a promoting factor and fuelled schools’ willingness to engage with other tools in the toolbox

42. Challenges
The key biggest challenge for schools was that of capacity, for example:
High turn-over of staff (particularly Headteachers)
High workloads and lack of time (and resilience) for teachers to engage with the project.
Danger that some teachers might see some of the tools (e.g. Lesson Study) as another management tool for monitoring them.

43. Challenges
Conditions of national accountability in England at the moment which means that schools are driven by the need to show immediate impact with regards to any intervention – what is the impact on pupils learning now?
Some tools were felt to be very time consuming and would therefore add to teachers’ workload and associated stress rather than reduce it

44. Preliminary Conclusions
The toolbox assumes that the goal is to help schools to create open and inclusive working environments, which assumes that schools want to achieve this and that schools would see the benefits of this.
Schools with high retention issues were the ones to drop out suggests that the tool box might be better seen as a ‘health tool’ (i.e. preventative tool) rather than an ‘emergency tool’ when the issues have already arisen.

45. For the toolbox to be effective teachers need to trust that they are free to take risks (e.g. with Lesson Study) and try something completely new without fear of judgement.
A key thing that we’ve learnt is that it’s not the tool per se, but how its purpose is understood and how its location in the school culture is constructed e.g. lesson study could be seen as another performance monitoring tool or as a genuine CPD tool.