Education Endowment Foundation:New fund will test different ways to improve Science teacher retention

New fund will test different ways to improve Science teacher retention

Author
EEF
EEF
Press Release •1 minute •

A new fund will offer the chance to test whether strategies like flexi-working, mentoring or reducing workload can improve the retention of science teachers in secondary schools.

The fund comes after the latest Government data showed that recruitment targets continue to be missed for physics, chemistry and maths teachers. Research by Education Datalab has found science teachers are more likely to leave the professions within their first five years of teaching than non-science teachers

The partnership between the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Wellcome Trust will fund trials of 3 – 5 different interventions to find out which are the most likely to improve teacher retention. They are particularly interested in proposals that cover the following approaches:

  • Mentoring programmes
  • Programmes to reduced workload (for example timetable changes, increased class sizes, different deployment of teaching assistants)
  • High quality subject-specific CPD programmes
  • Flexible working arrangements
  • Initiatives to support the mental health and wellbeing of science teachers

Unusually for the EEF, student attainment will not be the primary outcome for the trials funded through this round. Science teacher retention should be the primary outcome in proposals

Click here to find out more about applying to the fund.

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is a grant-making charity set up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust as lead foundation in partnership with Impetus Trust (now part of Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation), with a £125m founding grant from the Department for Education. The EEF is dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. Since its launch the EEF has awarded £96.3 million to 160 projects working with over 1,000,000 pupils in over 10,000 schools across England. The EEF and Sutton Trust are, together, the government-designated What Works Centre for Education.