'Attract' but what about 'retain'? The sustainability of the teaching profession in Victoria, Australia and England

Teacher workforce shortages in both Australia and England are well-documented and widely reported (Australian Government, 2023; Foster et al. 2021; Long, 2024). While much focus is on attracting and educating prospective teachers, there needs to be an equal focus on retaining and supporting teachers once they enter the profession. This symposium reports on projects investigating the sustainability of the teaching profession in two contexts: Victoria, Australia, and southwest England. The first two papers report on a Victorian study that examined the sustainability of the English teaching profession in particular. English teachers face intense pressures as they are seen as primarily responsible for the literacy development of students in an era of high-stakes and highly visible literacy testing. The ‘Sustainability of the English teaching profession’ project used mixed methods to develop insights into intentions to leave or stay in the English teaching profession and factors that contributed to retention or attrition. In England, the Early Career Framework is a government attempt to retain newly qualified teachers and avert attrition. The third paper in this symposium reports on a study of newly qualified teachers’ experiences of the supports and limitations of this framework and generative alternatives to top-down policy measures. All three papers suggest that connections to a viable and democratic professional culture and professional engagement beyond performativity and compliance are important directions for research and practice.