50% of South African teachers want to leave

Half of the in-service teachers in South Africa want to leave the profession due to stress and being overworked.

This was revealed in a recent study published by the Teacher Demographic Dividend (TDD) project in partnership with the Research on Socio-Economic Policy unit (Resep) at Stellenbosch University.

The report presents the findings of a teacher survey, completed by 1,500 respondents across all school levels, to investigate job satisfaction and teacher preferences.

The report noted that 50% of teachers desired to leave the profession within the next ten years. 

8% are considering leaving within the next year, while the percentages are evenly split between those wanting to go within the next two to five years (22%) and six to ten years (20%).

The report showed that teachers in no-fee schools are more inclined to leave than those at mid- to high-fee schools.

This is because teachers in these schools said that learner poverty, socio-emotional, and behavioural problems are significant challenges.

These issues further pressure their ability to deliver the curriculum effectively and, therefore, their job satisfaction.

Being overworked was the main reason for wanting to leave the profession, pointing to the high workload, including a high administrative burden, experienced by teachers.

Teachers in mid-fee and high-fee schools were much more likely to cite being overworked as a reason for wanting to leave the profession, at 49% and 53%, respectively.

This is compared to 33% in low-fee schools and 25% in no-fee schools, who cited being overworked. 

Teachers in high-fee schools were also much more likely to cite not earning enough as a reason for wanting to leave the profession (47%) than teachers in rural areas (28%).

However, despite the alarming results, the report noted that this high proportion of teachers wanting to leave is unlikely to materialise.

This is due to multiple reasons, such as job market constraints and the lack of other options available to teachers.

Despite this, it added that the desire to leave the profession is likely to indicate generally low levels of job satisfaction that the government needs to address. 

The report highlighted several policy recommendations that could help promote educational job satisfaction while addressing different schools’ specific issues. 

Some of these include incentives to move to rural schools, such as subsidised accommodation and school fees for their own children.

Another is lessening teachers’ administrative burden by limiting their administrative responsibilities to only those crucial for effective school management.

The report also advised offering mental health support for teachers and learners, and offering additional training in practical remedial teaching strategies to support learners with major learning backlogs.

Education under pressure

During this Budget presentation in March 2025, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana allocated R508.7 billion to the learning and culture sector and R332 billion for basic education.

Godongwana said that the “learner-teacher ratio remains higher than we would like, meaning that we still need more teachers in classrooms”.

“To prevent compensation of employees from crowding out other equally important areas of spending, R19.1 billion is added over the medium term to keep approximately 11,000  teachers in the classrooms.”

Other sector allocations include R27.9 billion for the skills development levy, R21.6 billion for education administration, and R14.2 billion for technical and vocational education and training.

While stakeholders in the education sector welcomed the allocations, some believe this funding remains insufficient to address the critical challenges.

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) has pointed out that the budget will not be enough to hire unemployed teacher graduates.

The funding will also not be enough to support the newly integrated Grade R educators, as Grade R is now a compulsory school starting age.

On a more positive note, Bianca Böhmer, a researcher from Stellenbosch University, told eNCA that there has been a notable rise in the number of trained teachers in South Africa.

She said that the significant improvements in the numbers will reduce the impact of the expected high teacher attrition rate.

She highlighted that approximately 9,000 graduates were training to be teachers across the country in 2010, but this has increased to about 30,000 in 2024. 

She said that the number of teachers in South Africa is no longer the main concern. However, skills mismatches and resources remain a concern.