High-quality teaching is the most powerful lever we have to improve pupil learning. Yet, teacher recruitment and retention are major challenges for schools in England. If we’re to ensure that all pupils have access to excellent teaching, it’s critical that we recruit excellent candidates into the teaching profession, support their development into highly effective teachers, and then retain them in schools.
The EEF has previously commissioned two related funding rounds: one on the theme of Science Teacher Retention in partnership with the Wellcome Trust in 2018, and one for School Choices evaluations on the theme of Teacher Recruitment and Retention in Autumn 2023. In addition, the Autumn 2025 funding round has a focus on school leadership programmes to support teacher recruitment, retention, and pupil attainment.
Why it matters to our mission
On average, schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged communities face greater recruitment and retention challenges than other schools. This means that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be affected by teacher vacancies and teacher turnover. Sustained access to great teaching is a powerful lever for improving children’s outcomes, so ensuring that high-quality teachers are recruited to and retained in disadvantaged schools is a priority for the EEF.
There is limited robust evidence about what works to improve teacher recruitment and retention. Most of the available evidence is based on correlational studies and teacher and leader perceptions.
The only approach that has strong evidence of impact for attracting teachers to work in challenging areas is financial incentives. That said, the EEF’s reviews have identified a number of other potential areas of promise. These include:
- making teacher workload more manageable;
- improving access to flexible working opportunities for teachers; and
- strengthening school leadership and supporting positive school climates.
The EEF has commissioned the following evidence and practice reviews with a focus on teacher recruitment and retention:
In 2018, the EEF commissioned a funding round focused on Science Teacher Retention in partnership with the Wellcome Trust. Two efficacy studies and one pilot study were commissioned as part of this round.
Additionally, the EEF opened a funding round for School Choices evaluations in Autumn 2023. Two evaluations focused on flexible working in schools and one project focused on teacher recruitment strategies were commissioned as part of this round. Details of all commissioned evaluations can be found in the table below.
The Autumn 2025 funding round has a focus on school leadership programmes to support teacher recruitment, retention, and pupil attainment, with the following priority areas:
- Prioritising teacher development
- Improving relationships and trust in schools
- Establishing positive working conditions
- Professional development for leaders
Completed trials and pilot studies
| Priority area | Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results | Beyond the headline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Science Teacher Retention | Efficacy | KEEP Teaching | Institute of Physics (IOP) | Year 7 – 13 | Whole class | A school support package aiming to reduce teacher workload and address retention challenges affecting early career teachers with a physics specialism. | Early career teachers in the KEEP Teaching group did not report increased job satisfaction compared to the control group. This result has a high security rating. | Although the timetabling guidance was considered useful there were internal communication difficulties within schools. More sustained and direct work with schools to influence timetables may have led to more substantial changes in job satisfaction. |
| Science Teacher Retention | Efficacy | Leadership Lite | Carmel Education Trust | Year 7 – 13 | Whole class | A leadership development and school improvement intervention, focused on continuing professional development to reduce teacher workload, improve teacher satisfaction and retention and improve pupil attainment. | Impact evaluation could not be conducted as planned due to COVID-19. | Science teachers’ self-reported use of teaching practices encouraged by Leadership Lite were positively correlated with their ability to manage their workload, job satisfaction, and intention to stay in teaching. |
| Science Teacher Retention | Pilot | RETAIN | The Cornwall College Group | Year 1 – 2 | Whole class | A one-year professional development programme for early career teachers who are teaching Key Stage 1 pupils in disadvantaged areas. It aims to improve pupil outcomes and increase retention of early career teachers. | Early career teachers reported that the programme had increased their knowledge, self-efficacy and confidence. | Early career teachers found it easier to apply the learning from RETAIN in schools that were open to changing existing school practices and willing to support early career teachers in implementing new approaches. |
Completed policy evaluations
Priority area | Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Year groups | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results | Beyond the headline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teacher training | Policy evaluation | ECF Early Roll-out | Teach First, Ambition Institute, UCL, Early Career Teacher Consortium, Education Development Trust | Reception – Year 13 | Whole class | Prior to its nationwide implementation in September 2021, the Department for Education piloted an early roll-out of the Early Career Framework (ECF). The EEF commissioned an independent evaluation of the ECF early roll-out. | Early career teachers in ECF schools were no more or less likely to have remained in the state-funded sector after two years than early career teachers in others schools. However, participating early career teachers were more likely to remain in their original induction school. | Findings suggest that the programme enabled deeper early career teacher – mentor relationships, which may have strengthened the bond between early career teachers and their schools. |
| Teacher training | Policy evaluation | Research into Teacher Training | Teach First | Reception – Year 6 | Whole class | This project aimed to compare outcomes for pupils in disadvantaged schools taught by newly qualified teacher (NQT)-level teachers trained in three different routes. | Cancelled due to recruitment difficulties and disruption associated with COVID-19. |
School Choices evaluations in progress
| Priority area | Highest-level EEF project | Project | Delivery team | Age (yrs) | Level of intervention | Description | Headline results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible working | School Choices | Evaluating a nine-day working fortnight as a strategy to improve teacher retention | N/A | Reception – Year 13 | Whole school | The aim of this evaluation is to explore whether moving to a nine-day working fortnight for teachers improves their recruitment and retention. Moving to a nine-day working fortnight involves changing teachers’ contractual working hours to give them one extra day off per fortnight. | Ongoing – scoping phase output to be published in Autumn 2025. |
| Flexible working | School Choices | Exploring the impact of offsite planning, preparation, and assessment (PPA) on teacher retention | N/A | Reception – Year 6 | Whole school | This evaluation will explore whether a school policy enabling teachers to take PPA time offsite can improve teacher retention and related outcomes in primary schools. | Ongoing – scoping phase output to be published in Autumn 2025. |
| Teacher recruitment | School Choices | Evaluating teacher recruitment strategies | N/A | Reception – Year 13 | N/A | The study uses large-scale survey experiments to explore which working conditions and benefits matter most to teachers considering new job opportunities. | Ongoing – report to be published in Autumn 2025. |