Catching them early: Identifying potential early-career leavers

Abstract

This article describes a small-scale quantitative study that explored levels of satisfaction within a sample of student teachers at two points in time. A first questionnaire was completed during students’ final year at an English university and comprised of questions relating to their satisfaction with school experience. A second was conducted mid-way through their subsequent Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) year, asking similar questions to the first, but applicable to their NQT school. Data indicated that a notable proportion of NQTs had considered leaving the teaching profession since they had qualified. Significantly, it was possible to identify these individuals from the rest of the student cohort by examining their responses from the first questionnaire. This indicates that teachers in danger of leaving the teaching profession at an early stage in their post-qualification career could potentially be recognised during their university training. Finally, issues surrounding the overt labelling of students as being a ‘leaving risk’ are discussed.