People
We need to attract and keep the people we need.
Can we keep and attract the people we need, and are we structured to deliver the strategy?
With teacher shortages biting, holding onto great teachers is the first-order problem, and it rarely comes down to pay. Exit data more often points to workload design, the absence of a clear progression path, and roles that have grown by accretion rather than design. We start with retention, then make sure you are using the most effective channels to attract the best, underpinned by a structure built for your strategy. Our scope is strategy, structure, and design, not the execution of recruitment, culture work, or professional development.
Org design and workforce is the lever that moves this need, with the cost base setting what the structure can carry. The Review benchmarks both.
The framework
What we examine
Attraction and retention (by design)
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Retention drivers | The structural reasons staff stay or leave: workload, role design, progression, and pay. | Turnover tracked by role and reason; structural retention levers actively managed; key-person risk identified and mitigated. |
| Career and remuneration structure | Progression pathways, pay bands, and recognition. | Clear progression and transparent pay bands; recognition and retention of key staff; succession planned for critical roles. |
| Attraction and recruitment channels | Whether the school uses the most effective ways to attract the best teachers, the strategy and channels, not the search. | The most effective attraction channels identified and used for each role; time-to-fill and quality of hire tracked; a proactive pipeline for hard-to-fill roles; reduced reliance on reactive agency spend. |
| Employer value proposition | Why a strong candidate would choose, and stay at, this school. | An articulated, differentiated EVP visible in the market; a strong candidate experience; the EVP reflected in real role design, not just messaging. |
Retention drivers
- What we look at
- The structural reasons staff stay or leave: workload, role design, progression, and pay.
- What excellence looks like
- Turnover tracked by role and reason; structural retention levers actively managed; key-person risk identified and mitigated.
Career and remuneration structure
- What we look at
- Progression pathways, pay bands, and recognition.
- What excellence looks like
- Clear progression and transparent pay bands; recognition and retention of key staff; succession planned for critical roles.
Attraction and recruitment channels
- What we look at
- Whether the school uses the most effective ways to attract the best teachers, the strategy and channels, not the search.
- What excellence looks like
- The most effective attraction channels identified and used for each role; time-to-fill and quality of hire tracked; a proactive pipeline for hard-to-fill roles; reduced reliance on reactive agency spend.
Employer value proposition
- What we look at
- Why a strong candidate would choose, and stay at, this school.
- What excellence looks like
- An articulated, differentiated EVP visible in the market; a strong candidate experience; the EVP reflected in real role design, not just messaging.
Workforce planning
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Supply and demand | Current and forecast staffing needs against the labour market, and pipeline risk by subject and role. | A rolling workforce plan; pipeline risk identified by subject and role; scenario planning for growth, decline, and key departures. |
| Workforce composition | The experience mix and full/part-time balance, for cost and quality. | Composition reviewed annually; a balanced experience mix that manages wage cost while protecting quality (connects to the staff-cost view in Surplus). |
Supply and demand
- What we look at
- Current and forecast staffing needs against the labour market, and pipeline risk by subject and role.
- What excellence looks like
- A rolling workforce plan; pipeline risk identified by subject and role; scenario planning for growth, decline, and key departures.
Workforce composition
- What we look at
- The experience mix and full/part-time balance, for cost and quality.
- What excellence looks like
- Composition reviewed annually; a balanced experience mix that manages wage cost while protecting quality (connects to the staff-cost view in Surplus).
Organisational design
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Structure and roles | Org structure, layers, spans of control, role clarity, and the design of leadership and middle leadership. | Structure mapped to strategy; spans of control benchmarked; clear role accountability; middle leadership designed deliberately rather than accreted. |
| Professional and non-teaching functions | The structure and scale of admin, operations, and the business office. | Non-teaching functions benchmarked and justified against need; duplication removed; capability matched to the school's complexity. |
Structure and roles
- What we look at
- Org structure, layers, spans of control, role clarity, and the design of leadership and middle leadership.
- What excellence looks like
- Structure mapped to strategy; spans of control benchmarked; clear role accountability; middle leadership designed deliberately rather than accreted.
Professional and non-teaching functions
- What we look at
- The structure and scale of admin, operations, and the business office.
- What excellence looks like
- Non-teaching functions benchmarked and justified against need; duplication removed; capability matched to the school's complexity.
Data used
Live Teacher Passport vacancy data across every sector and state gives a real-time view of the teacher labour market: which roles are genuinely hard to fill in your region, and how your employment offer compares. No published workforce report is current enough to tell you what the market looks like this month.
Illustrative opportunities
What this looks like in practice
Teacher turnover at double the benchmark, with exit data pointing to workload and no progression path.
A retention strategy combining role redesign and a clear career structure.
A twelve-month vacancy in key STEM roles and rising agency spend.
A recruitment strategy and employer value proposition.
Seven layers and spans of control of two to three in admin.
An organisational redesign.
How we help
The Review surfaces and sizes the findings on this need. Where one is worth acting on, the work is a retention-and-attraction strategy, a workforce plan, and a redesigned structure, with an implementation plan and support.
What we stay out of
Strategy, structure, and design. Not executing search or agency hiring, running culture programs, or delivering leadership PD.