Spencer Clarke Group Release School Insights Report 2025

Specialist education recruitment agency, Spencer Clarke Group have recently published their School Insights Report 2025 which explores the current state of education. 

They interviewed UK Headteachers across mainstream and SEND schools to gain exclusive insights on recruitment and retention, funding pressures, pupil mental health and attendance.

Their findings include: 

• 87.5% of Headteachers say they are ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about pupil mental health and wellbeing within their school. 
• 23% of Headteachers said that supporting students with SEND presents a major issue for their school.
• 42% of Headteachers say that student attendance has declined in recent years.
• 77% of Headteachers believe workload is ‘somewhat impacting’ or ‘heavily impacting’ their staff.

Throughout 2025, schools have continued to face significant challenges relating to staff workload, wellbeing and retention, even though many headteachers report strong levels of teacher retention and positive staff morale. Our report found that while most schools are working hard to support staff wellbeing and encourage retention, high workload, low pay for support staff and ongoing pressure to improve continue to place considerable strain on the workforce.

Many headteachers said the SEND system is ‘broken,’ and that insufficient resources are leaving pupils in inappropriate settings, which contributes to behavioural issues, school avoidance and increased stress for school staff.

The School Insights Report 2025 also reveals the challenges schools face today and how these challenges impact leadership capacity, daily operations and the long-term sustainability of schools.

Check out the full School Insights Report 2025. 

The author

Eva Henderson

Eva joined Spencer Clarke Group in 2023 as a Marketing Assistant. Spencer Clarke Group is an award-winning education and SEND recruitment agency dedicated to assisting schools with their recruitment challenges and finding candidates their dream career paths. In 2025, Spencer Clarke Group were named Best Recruitment Marketing Team, Best Public Sector Recruitment Agency and Best Temporary Recruitment Agency at the Recruiter Awards!

https://www.spencerclarkegroup.co.uk/