John Jerrim.

Today, new results have been released from the TALIS 2018 survey – a study of the teaching profession conducted within more than 40 countries across the world. Along with Sam Sims, I co-authored the national report for England.

The survey, conducted amongst a large, nationally representative sample of primary and lower-secondary teachers, included several questions about job satisfaction. As an international survey, we can therefore compare the job satisfaction of teachers in England to teachers in other countries. Also, as the second time TALIS has been conducted in England, we can also examine trends in teacher job satisfaction over time.

This blog will be short and not-so-sweet. The results (more…)

Alex Bryson, Lucy Stokes and David Wilkinson. 
There are two things that people think they know about teachers.  One is that they are dedicated to their profession, motivated by a sense of “mission” rather than money.  The other is that they are overworked and suffer work-related stress. But are these things true? Just how dedicated are school employees to their jobs and do they suffer more in terms of stress and potential ‘burnout’?
There appear to be grounds for concern. Teachers are leaving the profession at alarming rates and those who remain report seemingly high levels of job-related stress.  But are these stress levels any higher than those experienced by workers in other professions?  And just how much do employees’ wellbeing and commitment matter for schools’ performance?
Studies of schools and school staff almost invariably focus solely on the schools sector so it is not possible to compare them with employees elsewhere in the economy. Our new study is, to our knowledge, the first (more…)