The Experience Exodus

The education system faces complex challenges, yet those with the experience to address them are retiring or becoming disillusioned, leaving critical decisions to short-sighted politicians.

Derek Wenmoth

• A concerning exodus of experienced educators is leaving a critical expertise gap in our education system
• Behind the teacher shortage lies a deeper problem: veteran educators are giving up on the system itself
• Policy changes driven by short-term political cycles are alienating and exhausting our most valuable educational minds
• The loss of institutional knowledge threatens to create a cycle of repeating mistakes and premature leadership
• We’re not just losing teachers—we’re losing the architects of educational excellence and their irreplaceable wisdom

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In the past couple of weeks I’ve been working in schools and alongside school leaders in some virtual contexts where concerns about the increasing demands and complexity of working in education have been highlighted. Reports of higher than previously experienced instances of poor student behaviour and mental health concerns, or the challenges of accommodating increasingly diverse student needs (health, academic, cultural etc.) are common. Add to that the evolving curriculum demands, funding and budget pressures and staffing shortages and retention challenges. There’s no escaping the reality of what is facing schools, teachers, school leaders and boards of trustees on an almost daily basis.

Often I find leaders and teachers who are struggling to cope with these increased pressures – particularly those teaching in areas where larger contextual factors impact the work they do, such as socioeconomic inequalities. Several have confided in me that they are contemplating leaving teaching, either for other jobs or to pursue doing what they love overseas where they perceive the pay and conditions may be better. Others in their final few years of teaching are simply choosing to exit early and make the most of a ‘quiet’ retirement.

The shortage of qualified and skilled teachers this creates places huge demands on any school. The hours and effort required to arrange relievers (if they’re available) or to cover classes detracts from the time and energy that could otherwise be spent on designing great learning experiences for students or teacher PLD. 2025 began with reports that our system would start the year with a shortfall of 1250 teachers, and nothing appears to have changed. Despite efforts to fast-track residency for teachers and a range of initiatives to attract and support people to enter the teaching profession, the problem of supply and retention doesn’t look to be resolving itself very quickly. While any of these initiatives are worth pursuing to address the urgent concerns, a longer-term vision and strategy is required to recruit and retain the brightest and best to pursue a career in education – and that’s certainly not the case currently with the exit pipeline exceeding the entry pipeline by some degree.

While these issues are of real concern and the challenge of resolving them are of genuine interest to me, the real motivation for writing this blog came from conversations with a number of educators who, like me, have spent a good number of years committed to ensuring we have a world-class education system here in New Zealand, where our young learners are provided with the sort of education that will ensure they can thrive in a world of change and complexity, and where educators of the highest calibre are given opportunities to grow professionally and bring the full breadth of their knowledge and skill to the job they do.

I’ve spoken to several of those I’d call my contemporaries over the past couple of weeks – two have written books and three have designed country-wide strategic documents and implementation guides addressing these aspirations. One has established a regional transformation project involving dozens of schools, hundreds of teachers and thousands of students over many years. Two others have provided leadership within their schools and communities to drive transformation and lift achievement for their students.

Like myself, most of this group have been contributing back to education in a variety of ways since stepping back from substantive positions a few years ago – some in voluntary capacities, some as ‘consultants’ and others as advisers to governments (both in NZ and overseas). Collectively, this represents a very skilled, knowledgeable and capable group of educators with whom I have been privileged to work at various points in my career. They’re people I’ve looked for encouragement and inspiration, and from whom I’ve learned so much.

So why my despair? Simply put – the system appears to have finally beaten some of them.

With two of these colleagues I was sharing my enthusiasm for a rather ambitious project I’ve been working on. They were extremely encouraging and unqualified in their support for the idea behind what I’m doing, telling me ‘this has to happen!’ but adding, ‘and good luck to you – it’s not something I’ve got the energy or desire left to be a part of after having seen so much of the work I’ve done ignored or set aside in the past.’ Another colleague with a stand-out career working with and alongside schools over the past couple of decades told me she’s given up on working in education and has instead diverted her expertise in futures thinking to groups and organisations outside of education. Other conversations have taken a similar course.

And so the title for this post – the experience exodus. This is about more than some of our brightest heading off to greener pastures overseas – in that case it’s easy to identify the lure of the ‘grass is greener’ as a motivation. But in the case of these colleagues it’s less about greener pastures elsewhere and more about the constant mowing, trampling and failure to fertilise the pastures at home! My heart fell when I heard these people I respect so highly speaking of feeling defeated by the way their expertise has been ignored or worse, discredited in attempts to drive through a different ideologically driven set of structures and processes.

I can hear some readers say “well, you can’t always have your way” or something similar – and I acknowledge that progress always involve compromise and that the views of individuals must always be tempered by the views of others and tested against the evidence we have about what works (both sort and long term) – but such a process should, in my view, remain democratic and allow the voice of all involved to be heard and contribute to the desired change.

The consequences of ignoring the expertise of those active within our system can be devastating, perhaps not in the short term, but definitely in the longer term as we see nothing learned from the lessons of continuous cycles of change. For a start, the loss of institutional knowledge and mentorship leaves a huge hole in what could otherwise be a thriving, learning ecosystem. The exodus of such expertise can lead to inexperienced staff taking on leadership roles prematurely – both in our schools and our bureaucracies! Eventually this results in a decline in education quality and student outcomes – something our current government is so urgently endeavouring to address at the moment, despite decades of intelligence alerting us to this being the case.

A key problem we must address here is the political short-term view that drives a lot of what we see happening. Constant policy changes leading to instability in the system and education policies driven by election cycles rather than long-term vision together with the lack of educator input in policy-making all contribute to the sort of crisis we’re now experiencing. Just as Sir Ashley Bloomfield today called for a ten year plan for our health system that would endure with cross-party buy-in, we need to think about the same sort of thing for education. It’s certainly not a new idea. The Finnish education system, long the envy of NZ educators and the focus of many educational visits, achieved its reforms through an extended period of commitment to a bi-partisan strategy. Pasi Sahlberg sums it up this way:

“Finnish education policies are a result of four decades of systematic, mostly intentional, development that has created a culture of diversity, trust, and respect within Finnish society in general, and within its education system in particular.. Education sector development has been grounded on equal opportunities for all, equitable distribution of resources rather than competition, intensive early interventions for prevention, and building gradual trust among education practitioners, especially teachers.” (P. Sahlberg, 2009, Educational Change in Finland, in A. Hargreaves, M. Fullan, A. Lieberman, and D. Hopkins (Eds.), International Handbook of Educational Change)

When imposed change is relentlessly introduced, without the opportunity for open dialogue, informed debate or critique of the research, experienced educators become cynical and withdraw from change efforts. This in turn impacts on newer teachers and overall school culture, and where those with the wisdom gained from experience are no longer present, we see a perpetuation of existing problems due to lack of experienced voices.

While I don’t believe in ‘silver bullet’ solutions for such complex problems, there are some things we could consider – particularly as our education workforce is aging and we risk seeing much of the wisdom and expertise within it simply ‘fade’ away and/or be ignored. Creating pathways for retired educators to contribute their expertise would be a good starting point – along with fostering intergenerational collaboration in schools. Advocating for educator involvement in policy-making is another area we shouldn’t ignore – which is how many educators are feeling currently as they experience being left completely shut out of any consultation process regarding the large scale changes taking place.

Surely we can do better to honour and respect those in our education community who have achieved so much and have so much still to contribute? Their voice should play a critical role in shaping the future of education. In Japan they celebrate Respect for the Aged Day (Keirō no Hi ) with themes of honouring the elderly and promoting intergenerational connections. I wonder what we could learn from this in terms of being able to commit to a longer-term vision for education transformation, drawing on the wisdom that exists and opening the opportunity for inter-generational dialogue and problem solving.

The time has come to break the cycle of institutional amnesia and short-sighted political manoeuvring. Our education system is not a political playground, but a critical ecosystem where the dreams and futures of our youngest generations are nurtured. By marginalising experienced educators, we’re not just losing wisdom—we’re deliberately cutting the roots that could help our educational landscape flourish.

The experience exodus in education is not just a loss of personnel; it’s a potential squandering of invaluable wisdom that could shape the future of our educational landscape. Experienced educators are the architects of intellect, the cultivators of curiosity, and the nurturers of dreams. Their years of expertise in the classroom and other parts of the system, their deep understanding of pedagogical practices, and their ability to adapt to changing educational needs make them uniquely qualified to guide the next generation of teachers and students. By leveraging their knowledge in curriculum design, policy development, and mentoring of others, we can create a more robust, adaptive, and effective educational system. 

As we face unprecedented challenges in education, it is imperative that we create meaningful roles for these experienced educators to contribute their insights, helping to craft innovative solutions and shape the future of education. Their involvement is not just beneficial—it’s essential for ensuring that our educational practices evolve while remaining grounded in proven methodologies and deep understanding of student needs.

We must create deliberate, structured pathways that honour the expertise of experienced educators, amplify their voices in policy discussions, and weave their hard-earned insights into the fabric of educational transformation. Our children deserve more than constant disruption; they deserve a system built on respect, continuity, and a genuine commitment to learning that transcends political cycles and personal agendas.

Let us not allow this wealth of experience to fade away, but instead harness it to build a brighter, more effective future for education.