Soon, it’ll be recruitment season.

Adverts to draft.
Job descriptions to tweak.

But for now, there’s that ‘back of the mind’ question:
Who might leave?

Can I say something slightly uncomfortable?

I often hear leaders say pay is the reason people leave.

But… most teachers don’t leave because of pay.

Yes — pay matters.

But according to the DfE’s Working Lives of Teachers report (Wave 4, Figure 11.1, p37), pay is second from bottom in the list of reasons teachers who have left cite for leaving — far below workload, stress and pupil behaviour.

What’s higher?

Workload.
Stress.
And pupil behaviour.

In other words, it’s not the payslip.

It’s the daily experience.

I worked with a head who was convinced pay was the issue.
“We just can’t compete,” she said.

But when we looked at three years of leavers, a pattern emerged.

It wasn’t salary.

It was inconsistency in behaviour systems.

Teachers not applying the approach confidently — because they didn’t fully understand it.
Low-level disruption.
Different adults, responding differently.
Strong teachers quietly exhausted from holding the line alone.

So instead of planning how she would replace people, she tightened behaviour.

Clear routines.
Consistent follow-through.
Senior leaders visibly backing staff.
Relentless clarity about how everyone applied the behaviour approach — this wasn’t about SLT doing more, it was about everyone doing it well.

The result?

Fewer resignations that May.
More internal promotions.
And something impossible to miss — calmer classrooms.

Behaviour isn’t just a teaching issue.

It’s a retention strategy.
It’s a budget strategy.

Fewer vacancies.
Less churn.
Less recruitment spend.
More stability for children.

If you give this some focus now — before 31 May — you might not just recruit better.

You might keep the very people you don’t want to lose.

Here’s to pulling the lever that makes people stay,
Sonia ❤️

P.S. Over this half term I’m sharing practical ways to strengthen recruitment and retention — especially when the market feels tight. If this resonates, stay with me.