A LONG-TERM STRATEGY IS KEY TO SOLVING STAFF RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION ISSUES

This week recruitment and retention issues have again dominated discussions in education. The?Education Endowment Foundation published findings from three studies on teacher workload , flexible working and school leadership . Jack Worth, workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research, said the analysis highlights “actions school leaders can take to improve flexibility and reduce workload, but also highlights the importance of external drivers of teacher workload”.

These reports highlight that the recruitment and retention of staff has become an intractable issue. At the FED we believe that these intractable issues need to be thought about and tackled through different mechanisms.? As Henry Ford said "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.”

Many of you will have also read about the recent?AI Safety Summit 2023 held in Bletchley Park. Whatever your views on the role of AI in education, it is clear that as a sector we need to starting thinking about its role through a long-term lens, as it will have a significant influence in the years to come. Only by brining together the relevant stakeholders to help shape our thinking will we collectively to be able to harness the positive influence of AI, whilst also tackling the challenges that it poses.

At the FED we believe that we need to develop different mechanisms that will support greater stability and long-term planning, to issues that include the role of AI and staff recruitment and retention. These mechanism include:

1. A 10-year plan 'framework' for education, with clear goals and processes for setting and delivering short, and long-term aims.
2. Long-term planning for education could be developed and overseen by a?National Council for Education.
3. A?National Education Assembly?for large-scale stakeholder review, inputs and collaboration.
4. The system could benefit from an independent?Chief Education Officer, akin to the roles of Chief Scientific Officer or Chief Medical Officer.?

We are developing our thinking related to these mechanism and would be delighted to hear your thoughts. Please contact us at [email protected] ?to share your thoughts or to see how you get can involved in our work.

We want to thank everyone who applied to join and FED Practitioners Council - we look forward to your input over the coming year.

We are currently recruiting learners in England,?from a diversity of voices, backgrounds and experiences,?to join the FED Learners Council in 2023-2024.?If you’re interested or know someone who is, please complete or share this?short application form ?by?Friday 24th November 2023 at 5pm.

We are delighted to announce that on Thursday 30th November between 9.30-10.45 we will be hosting our first FEDSpace event?'Some have newness thrust?upon them' - managing innovation in education.?There is no hiding from new ideas or new technologies, but often?the?temptation?is to pull up the school drawbridge or wait for Government to tell us what to do. But what can we learn from how new products?are developed and tested and how can we build?an education?system that helps best manage innovation? This is the first of three FEDspace style sessions being run with Innovate Ed, a FED project that asks big questions about managing change. You can find out?more about Innovate Ed and respond to its first thinkpiece here . Bookings will go live this week - follow us on?X ?and?LinkedIn ?to hear about it first.

On?16th November,?FED Executive Team members, Gabriel Smith ?and Kerri Hall , will be heading to?The Edge Foundation's (Co)Designing a More Sustainable Future for Your School ?to introduce leaders and practitioners to the?Climate Change and Sustainability Toolkit. It is a free online resource, developed by experts in the field, and entirely free to use.

Remember to join us in London on?Thursday?9th November 2023?where you can hear Paul Drechsler CBE and Dr Leila Khouja Walker ,?talk about?the future world of work and its implications?for education.?To book your place contact Ellie Field via email?[email protected] .