Pay and conditions are making it harder for state schools to retain staff, leaders have warned, as data shows private schools have poached more than 8,500 teachers from the sector since 2019. More teachers have left state schools to work in the independent sector than vice versa in every year since 2019, analysis of suggests. The news comes despite a government decision to cut its teacher recruitment targets, in part because of what it says is improved recruitment from outside the state sector. It also comes as national data shows almost as many teachers left teaching in the year to November 2023 than joined the profession. All 1,411 ISC schools were surveyed in January for the 2024 report. It found independent schools made a net gain of more than 1,500 teachers from state schools, down 13 per cent year-on-year. Pepe DiIasio Pepe Di鈥橧asio, the general secretary of the school leaders鈥� union ASCL, said there was 鈥渁lways a flow鈥� of teachers between state and independent schools, with staff moving for myriad reasons. But he warned government policies over 14 years had 鈥渆roded鈥� pay and conditions and made it 鈥渉arder to retain teachers in the state sector鈥�. 鈥淭he effect of those policy decisions is also that we don鈥檛 have enough graduates coming into the profession in the first place. This means that schools are having to effectively compete from a pool of teachers that isn鈥檛 large enough to meet the system鈥檚 needs.鈥� The Department for Education does not publish data on the rate of teachers swapping independent for state schools. Some teachers do move private to state However, annual school workforce figures published on Thursday show the number of 鈥渆ntrants new to the state funded sector鈥� did increase. The DfE defines these new entrants as those qualified more than two years before taking up their first post at a state school in England. It includes those who previously worked in independent schools, the FE sector or overseas. There were 5,530 such entrants in the 2023-24 academic year, up from 4,747 the year before. It comes after the DfE slashed its annual secondary recruitment targets by almost a tenth in March, despite missing them by 50 per cent last year. At the time, the department said said this 鈥渄riven by more favourable supply forecasts鈥�. 鈥淩ecruitment forecasts for both returners, and teachers that are new to the state-funded sector, are more favourable for almost all subjects this year鈥�. James Noble-Rogers, the executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, said that 鈥渋n some ways鈥� it was good that the private sector wanted to employ teachers that 鈥渉old QTS and have been through the excellent ITE provided by accredited ITE providers鈥�. But he said this 鈥渟hould not be at the expense of publicly funded schools. 鈥淭he government should ensure that we have enough teachers to meet the needs of all schools.鈥� 鈥淎ny net move from one sector to the other should be taken into account when intake targets are set,鈥� he said. The DfE said its targets and the methodology behind them did reflect shifting trends between state-funded and independent sectors.