What the Future Teacher Wants: Five Priorities Shaping the Next-Gen

Future teachers prioritise purpose, career progression, salary competitiveness and work-life balance at comparable levels to other graduate careers, seeking a more flexible and fulfilling professional journey.

Across England’s schools, the recruitment and retention of teachers remains one of the sector’s most significant strategic challenges. Headlines show teacher vacancy rates at record highs, driven by stagnant pay, excessive workload and inflexible working practices. For headteachers, principals and MAT leaders, understanding what the next generation of teachers is looking for is essential to building a future-ready workforce.

What Next-Generation Teachers Want

Emerging UK research into Gen Z’s attitudes towards careers reveals useful insights into the priorities of prospective teachers. In a study commissioned by Teach First with Public First, 73 per cent of 16-24-year-olds view teaching as a meaningful and purposeful career choice, yet many perceive structural obstacles that temper long-term commitment.

Key preferences include:

• Purpose and impact: Gen Z values the social purpose of teaching highly.

• Competitive salary: Almost all respondents identify financial stability and the ability to achieve life goals such as home ownership as critical.

• Work-life balance: A substantial majority value balance and wellbeing as part of career choices.

• Professional development: Prospective teachers want clear pathways for growth and leadership.

• Flexible career structures: Many see teaching potentially as a phase in a broader career journey rather than a single lifelong role.

These preferences reflect a broader shift in graduate labour market expectations, where traditional career patterns are giving way to more fluid, experience-driven professional trajectories.

Recruitment and Retention Realities

Despite positive views of teaching’s purpose, recruitment and retention statistics paint a worrying picture. Recent NFER data shows teacher vacancies in England remain at historically high levels, with shortages affecting core subjects such as physics and computing.

The pressure on leaders to retain high-quality staff is compounded by evidence of concerning attrition, particularly among recently qualified teachers and school leaders alike. Research reported by Schools Week quotes Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, warning that while “recruitment targets have been missed 12 times in the last 13 years, the issue around retention is pretty dire.”

Teaching must evolve beyond traditional structures: salary competitiveness, career flexibility and purposeful professional growth are not perks but core requirements of the next generation of educational talent.

What Leaders Should Prioritise

To attract and retain the teaching talent of tomorrow, school and trust leaders should consider strategic actions grounded in recent evidence:

• Reframing the career narrative: Communicate the purpose and impact of teaching while aligning roles with broader professional ambitions.

• Competitive reward structures: Benchmark pay more aggressively against other graduate professions and ensure transparent and equitable progression pathways.

• Workforce flexibility: Explore creative working models, including flexible planning time and structured secondments, to align with evolving career expectations.

• Invest in wellbeing: Embed sustained, culturally-driven approaches to support workload and wellbeing rather than ad-hoc incentives.

From Insight to Action

Meeting the expectations of future teachers requires both system-wide reform and school-level cultural leadership. For MAT CEOs and headteachers, integrating insights from research into workforce planning is no longer optional; it’s strategic. By addressing compensation, work-life balance and professional agency, the sector can ensure teaching remains both an attractive and sustainable career.

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School Leader is a UK publication providing practical insight and guidance for senior education leaders, helping decision-makers navigate leadership, finance, governance, and operational challenges with confidence.

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