Exploring the impact of offsite planning, preparation, and assessment (PPA) on teacher retention – School Choices

Project info

Independent Evaluator

UCL Institute of Education logo
UCL Institute of Education

Trial to test the impact of offering primary school teachers the opportunity to complete Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) work offsite on teacher retention.

Schools: 242
Participating settings: 242

The project

The aim of this evaluation was to explore whether a school policy enabling teachers to complete Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time offsite can improve teacher retention in primary schools. Most teachers currently complete timetabled PPA at school, but there is growing interest in whether offering teachers the option to spend this time working remotely could support teacher well-being, job satisfaction and retention.

Teachers have an important influence on pupils’ educational achievement. However, many schools in England are struggling to recruit and retain teachers, and schools with higher proportions of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be affected by recruitment and retention challenges. There is a widespread perception among teachers and school leaders that increasing the availability of flexible working could improve teacher retention. This project aimed to contribute towards the evidence-base on whether flexible working opportunities help to improve teacher recruitment and retention.

How are we evaluating it?

This study is one of the EEF’s ​‘School Choices’ evaluations, which focus on the decisions school leaders make regarding practices and approaches, such as how to organise the school day or communicate with families. The aim of School Choices research is to produce causal evidence about the impact of different school-level approaches.

School Choices evaluations are divided into two phases: a scoping phase during which researchers assess the feasibility of an impact evaluation and refine their plans, and an impact evaluation phase during which they test the causal impact of a school-level approach. 

We completed the scoping phase for this project and published a summary report for school leaders below. However, it was not possible to recruit enough schools for a robust evaluation of the impact of offsite PPA on teacher retention, because many schools approached were either already implementing offsite PPA, planning to do so from the start of the academic year, or did not feel that they had the capacity to start implementing an offsite PPA policy. As a result, the impact evaluation phase of this project has been cancelled. We will publish a report summarising lessons learned from the work conducted during the impact phase of the project.

Scoping phase findings

In addition to exploring the feasibility of conducting an impact evaluation, the scoping phase explored teacher and school leaders’ views on offering offsite PPA, usual practice in relation to PPA time in schools and barriers to implementing an offsite PPA policy.

The study found that offsite PPA is viewed positively by many teachers as a way to improve well-being and work-life balance. Teachers in schools offering offsite PPA reported feeling trusted by their school leaders and some suggested that access to offsite PPA was a factor they would consider when searching for new teaching jobs.

Leaders in schools that do not offer offsite PPA reported facing barriers such as budget constraints, the need to coordinate in person meetings, and challenges in equitably providing offsite PPA for all staff. Many schools currently offer offsite PPA on a discretionary basis, where teachers may be able to work offsite after seeking formal approval or for a limited number of days per year.

Further information about the findings from the scoping phase can be found in this summary for school leaders.

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