Recruitment and Retention in the Post-16 Learning and Skills Sector

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• lack of administrative support. Many respondents feel that theyhave less time to concentrate on their primary teaching role. Onefactor identified as not helping in this situation is a lack ofadministrative support with teachers/trainers having to bear thisburden: “our admin support is down to nothing because, of course,the assumption is nowadays that as soon as you're given acomputer is that you're an expert typist, isn’t it? So once you’vegiven everybody a computer you can get rid of the secretarial andadmin support”. [Work Based Learning];• emphasis on targets. Some concerns were raised regarding thetarget driven nature of education which can contribute to increasedbureaucracy: “our funding is based on the number of students andits all to do with retaining students … my personal opinion is that, ifthey are not prepared to work then they shouldn’t be here. But ifwe get rid of them … we lose funding”. [Further Education];• management issues. There are some concerns that managementroles are becoming too far removed from teaching, with educationjust seen as a business: “I appreciate the necessity for informationmanagement systems for various forms of analysis but sometimesthere's clearly now an echelon in education that of building careerson bureaucracy and really that’s not what education’s about, itsabout helping people”. [Further Education];• perception of falling educational standards. There is aperception that an increasing number of enrolled students lack thekey skills that teachers/trainers feel should have been taught inschools. Furthermore, the academic requirements for courses areperceived to be falling. These two factors mean that someteachers/trainers in the post-16 sector are spending more lessontime teaching key skills rather than concentrating on their particularsubject area: “I do less engineering work and in depth engineeringwork now, I spend more time doing things like key skills anddeveloping education as opposed to actually dealing with the nittygritty of what I was really employed for in the first place”. [WorkBased Learning].7.23 Interestingly, pay was not identified as the main drawback both in thequantitative and qualitative research. Instead major issues are related toexcessive workload and bureaucracy.7.24 Qualitative findings identified a difference in the experiences of thoseworking full-time and those working part-time or on a sessional basis.Those working part-time perceive that they have less support from theiremployer, less access to training and development and have concernsregarding their tenure of position.71
Summary7.25 Key issues raised in this section relating to satisfaction, benefits anddrawbacks are as follows:• a vast majority of respondents (82%) reported that they were eitherfairly or very satisfied with their present job. Only 10% indicatedexplicit dissatisfaction with their job. Learning support workers andassessors indicated the highest level of satisfaction compared withmanagers and teachers/trainers;• staff working in science, engineering and ICT subjects were leastlikely to be satisfied with their current job, compared with thoseworking in hair and beauty and retail;• two thirds of respondents (60%) agreed that morale is good withintheir organisation. Over a quarter of respondents (28%) disagreedthat morale was good;• those with a less positive view of morale were more likely to beworking in further education, working in science or English,dissatisfied with their job and older;• a quarter of respondents agreed that they do not feel valued andrecognised for the work they do, although 66% of respondentsdisagreed with this statement;• those who are less likely to feel valued include teachers/trainers,those working in further education colleges and those working inscience subjects;• the most common reasons given for continuing to work in the post-16 learning and skills sector were helping people to develop (51%),job satisfaction/personal achievement (43%) and working withpeople/learners (38%);• the key problems that staff face within the sector include too muchbureaucracy and a heavy workload.72
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RESEARCHRecruitment and Retention i
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ContentsPage1 INTRODUCTION ........
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of respondents), closely followed b
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32. Key concerns where resources we
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52. The most common qualification h
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Definitions1.5 A number of terms ha
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• at what point in their career t
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1.16 Key question areas relevant to
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2 METHODOLOGY AND PROFILE OF RESPON
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2.13 Prior to the main survey, a fu
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Ethnic Background2.22 Nine out of t
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Types of Provision2.26 In addition
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Table 2.10: What are the main subje
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• HR Managers views on the reason
Page 29 and 30: Table 2.15: Total StaffStatus ‘Oc
Page 31 and 32: 2.44 A total of 113 in-depth interv
Page 33 and 34: 3 MOTIVATION TO JOIN THE SECTOR3.1
Page 35 and 36: Entrants from Teaching3.13 Responde
Page 37 and 38: Vocational Reasons3.21 This is the
Page 39 and 40: • “I met one of the managers at
Page 41 and 42: Perceptions of Entry Routes4.6 A ma
Page 43 and 44: 4.13 In terms of finding suitable c
Page 45 and 46: 5 TURNOVER, VACANCIES AND HARD TO F
Page 47 and 48: 5.11 The major reason given for vac
Page 49 and 50: 5.16 Generally HR Managers did not
Page 51 and 52: Maths and Science• “there are i
Page 53 and 54: 5.27 Teacher/trainer respondents we
Page 55 and 56: Table 5.7: What could your organisa
Page 57 and 58: • “there is a shortage of maths
Page 59 and 60: 6 WORKING IN THE SECTOR6.1 This sec
Page 62 and 63: 6.9 Respondents working in further
Page 64 and 65: Figure 6.4: Respondents satisfied w
Page 66 and 67: Staff Who Have Considered Leaving6.
Page 68 and 69: Figure 6.7: Respondents who have ap
Page 70 and 71: • levels of satisfaction with the
Page 72 and 73: Figure 7.1: Respondents satisfied w
Page 74 and 75: Staff Attitudes7.8 Respondents were
Page 76 and 77: 7.14 Younger employees aged 18 to 3
Page 78 and 79: Personal Problems7.20 Respondents w
Page 82 and 83: 8 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT8.1 Succe
Page 84 and 85: 8.8 Issues relating to involvement
Page 86 and 87: • quality. A minority of responde
Page 88 and 89: Table 8.2: Which Teaching Qualifica
Page 90 and 91: 9 GOVERNMENT STRATEGY9.1 Research t
Page 92 and 93: Table 9.3: To what extent do you ag
Page 94 and 95: 10 CONCLUSIONS10.1 Recruitment and
Page 96 and 97: Main Benefits and Drawbacks of Work
Page 98 and 99: ANNEX AQUESTIONNAIRES
Page 100 and 101: Section A: Background informationAS
Page 102 and 103: 6) Have any teaching posts been fil
Page 104 and 105: CATI NOTE: routing from Q10 has bee
Page 106 and 107: Q16a) And what is the main reason,
Page 108 and 109: 22) In which subjects are teaching
Page 110 and 111: ASK IF YES AT Q25 A) OR C), OTHERS
Page 112 and 113: 33) To what extent do you agree or
Page 114 and 115: DfES Recruitment and Retention Surv
Page 116 and 117: 8. Are your standard weekly working
Page 118 and 119: • 5- less than 10• 10- less tha
Page 120 and 121: • Any other training (please spec
Page 122 and 123: 28. What motivates you personally t
Page 124 and 125: ASK ALL32. How satisfied or dissati
Page 126 and 127: ASK ALL CODES 1-7 AT Q41, OTHERS (N
Page 128 and 129: 49. To which of the following group
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Recruitment and Retention in the Post-16 Learning and Skills Sector

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