Marvin OnumonuA report by the National Education Union (NEU) found that large multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England have the lowest teacher retention rates.
Data showed that one in five teachers left their jobs in the last academic year, with more than one in nine leaving the profession entirely.
In comparison, local-authority maintained schools saw one in seven teachers leaving their jobs and one in 11 leaving the profession.
The figures, taken from the School Workforce Census over the past decade, indicated that large MATs, those with at least 21 schools, had consistently higher attrition rates than other governance structures.
Notably, special free schools had a 13.4% rate of teachers leaving, compared to 9.1% in local authority maintained special schools.
Several large trusts, including Unity Schools Partnership and RISE Multi Academy Trust, had retention rates at the end of the 2022-23 school year of 75% or lower, with Unity Schools Partnership being the lowest at 71.9%.
The NEU’s State of Education survey highlighted workload as a significant reason for teachers leaving.
Work-life balance issues were also reported, with 67% of teachers in large MATs saying they ‘often’ or ‘always’ worked evenings, compared to 59% in local-authority maintained schools.
Teachers in large MATs were also more likely to work weekends and cancel personal plans to manage workloads.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “A myth has emerged in recent months that academies are a more attractive prospect for teachers because of flexibilities around pay and conditions.
“Evidence collected by the NEU shows the exact opposite to be the case.
“Far from being better places to work, our research reveals large MATs are havens for higher workload and poorer work-life balance for their staff.”
Kebede added: “These findings underline the importance of ensuring that academies are brought into a national system of pay and conditions.
“This will ensure a level playing field for staff and make a real difference to addressing the root causes of the recruitment and retention crisis.
“Currently, England has the biggest crisis in the recruitment and retention of teachers for more than 20 years. We must do all that we can to fix it. That includes employers as well as government.”
He said: “Today’s findings must act as a wake-up call to large MATs that they are contributing to the problem, and a culture change is urgently required.”
