Dr Emily MacLeod

Interesting stat from today's release: more than half of physics trainees are now non-UK and non-EEA nationals. A remarkable shift from 6% of trainees in 2021 to 59% in 2025. Encouraged by the bursary eligibility change in 2022/23, but how many have gone on to state-sector employment?

<em>British Educational Research Journal</em> | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library This paper uses empirical data from a longitudinal qualitative study conducted with aspirant teachers in England to propose (re)definitions of the concepts of ‘status’ and ‘safety’ as a framework wit...

... if you want to read more about my research in this area here's my open access paper in @berj-2025.bsky.social sky.social 🔍 bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

In other words, the issues of teacher recruitment and teacher retention require different approaches to counter them. It makes sense, then, that these issues should not be constantly bundled together but should be considered and tackled separately (5/5)

These would-be teachers didn’t mention the things that current and former teachers have said push them out of teaching: the profession’s high workload, stress and poor wellbeing (4/5)

My research shows that young people who previously aspired to teach did not pursue teaching because the profession no longer held 'status' or 'safety' (3/5)

In this piece I share how my research with aspirant teachers indicates that the reasons teachers leave teaching are not the same as the reasons people choose not to become teachers (2/5)

Teacher recruitment and retention are separate issues – they need tackling in different ways The reasons why people do not become teachers are not the same reasons why people leave the classroom.

'Teacher recruitment and retention are separate issues – they need tackling in different ways'

My new article in @uk.theconversation.com is now out (1/5 🧵)

theconversation.com/teacher-recr...

Evaluating teacher recruitment strategies - School Choices The EEF is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.

Great to see this new report from @theeef.bsky.social & @teachertapp.bsky.social adding to the evidence on teacher retention

Teachers looking at adverts for new jobs valued the promise of more PPA time, smaller class sizes and healthcare offers
educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and...

Has gender balance in A-Level physics improved? - FFT Education Datalab We look at whether A-Level physics is becoming more popular with female students.

Good to see this analysis by Natasha Plaister @fftedudatalab.bsky.social showing consistent increases in the proportion of female students taking A-Level physics in the UK ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2025/10/has-...

Why do people enter and exit teaching? New analyses from @ambitioninstitute.bsky.social with @drsamsims.bsky.social report that professional development, flexible working and additional paid leave could be as valuable as pay rises for reducing teacher shortages www.ambition.org.uk/why-people-e...

<em>British Educational Research Journal</em> | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library This paper uses empirical data from a longitudinal qualitative study conducted with aspirant teachers in England to propose (re)definitions of the concepts of ‘status’ and ‘safety’ as a framework wit...

You can read the full open-access paper here: bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (11/11)

Importantly, this paper demonstrates that the reasons why young people do not pursue teaching are not the same reasons why people leave the profession

🚫 i.e., we should not always group teacher recruitment and retention together, they are not caused by the same issues (10/11)

This raises questions about how we can raise the status and safety of teaching for all... (9/11)

The framework shows that the reasons why people want to become teachers go beyond their individual desires (e.g., wanting to work with children), and include how potential teachers see themselves, and are seen by others, in relation to teaching (8/11)

In this framework I propose that status and safety are relative to a person's background and/or the social and cultural inequities that they experience.

e.g. teaching is not 'low in status' for everyone, at all times ‼️(7/11)

Using these analyses I propose a new framework of status and safety with which to examine why some people become teachers, whilst others do not:

*teacher-makers and teacher-breakers* (6/11)

Those who chose to pursue teaching by age 22 maintained or returned to teaching as both high in status and safety

Those who dropped their teaching aspirations lost the relative status and/or safety of teaching (5/11)

I found that teaching was seen as a profession which afforded both respect (status) and minimal risk (safety) by all aspirant teachers in this study

But that these perceptions shifted over time - status and status can be lost and gained (4/11)

In the paper I present analyses of qualitative data from interviews tracking aspirant teachers in England over 11 years 👶➡️🧑 (3/11)

This paper is part of a special issue focusing on teacher shortages and ways forward for policy, research and practice in teacher supply

Thanks to Beng Huat See, Gemma Moss, Robert Klassen, Mark Ledger, Sophie Thompson-Lee & Rebecca Snell for the opportunity (2/11)

*What makes or breaks teaching for young people?*

I have a new open-access paper out in @berj-2025.bsky.social bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Teacher-makers and teacher-breakers: (Re)defining how status and safety influence trajectories into and away from teaching

🧵(1/11)

A systematic review of STEM teacher recruitment and retention interventions - International Journal of STEM Education The worldwide problem of teacher recruitment and retention is particularly pronounced in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects, due in part to a lack of trainee teachers an...

A great new paper out from Sophie Thompson-Lee & colleagues evidencing that financial incentives are not effective in recruiting more STEM teachers

Teacher recruitment efforts need to focus on more than just 💰

stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10....

McGill University in the sunshine

Today marks my one year anniversary at @mcgill.ca ☀️

That One Teacher: We hear from teachers who positively impacted your life | CBC News Did you have That One Teacher who recognized your potential? Supported you? Had a positive impact on your life? We heard your stories. Now we're sharing them.

Love this piece on the impact of teachers on CBC News 🥰
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

📢 New @beranews.bsky.social blog out today, where I consider the impact of the idea that some teachers are 'born' to teach

www.bera.ac.uk/blog/born-to...

Back home in Montréal after a fantastic time conferencing with my @eserasig5.bsky.social family 😍

... And with a new obsession for Danish ice cream 🍧

@mariobarioberge.bsky.social @betzabetorres-o.bsky.social @allisongonsalves.bsky.social @lucyavraamidou.bsky.social @emilysprowls.bsky.social

This week I'm in wonderful Copenhagen 🇩🇰 with wonderful McGill colleagues for the European Science Education Association conference #ESERA @eserasig5.bsky.social

Finally, we consider what this means for increasing and diversifying teacher recruitment in the context of dire, and patterned, teacher shortages (4/4)

And that teaching is a common back-up, or second-choice career aspiration, but that many individuals who report an earlier interest in teaching do not go on to become teachers (3/4)

We find that girls and young women, as well as young people who identified as White, were significantly more likely to be open to teaching than their peers (2/4)