English schools are struggling to retain newly qualified teachers

WHEN Ewa began looking for jobs, she did not plan to leave the country. She now works as a modern-language teacher at a private school in Dubai, earning three times what she did in London. Perks include free flights home, accommodation, private health insurance and even a furniture allowance. Five years after qualifying as a teacher she is head of her year. Would she return? Her “heart beats for London” but living there “on a teacher salary can be really difficult”, so not soon.

Schools are struggling to recruit enough teachers to deal with a demographic bulge. Yet they are also doing a bad job at keeping those they manage to attract. Among teachers who qualified in 2011, 83% were still in the state sector two years later. Among those who qualified in 2015, just 78% were (see chart). Failing to retain teachers is a problem in itself, but it also points to other issues bedevilling English education.

The most obvious is pay. In September classroom teachers will receive their...