This is an article for The Prep School Magazine and therefore has a focus specifically on schools; however most of it applies to any sector of work.

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What is your planned retirement age – do you have a route map from now to that point? I remained in my full-time role of Chaplain and Head of Philosophy and Religion at my day / boarding school until I was 63. I then took my present 4 day per week role at a day school to ease me into retirement. In April I am 66 and in July I retire fully from School Chaplaincy. Retirement is therefore right at the front of my mind. 

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I first started to engage with this about 10 years ago when my slightly older colleagues started taking early retirement; and encouraging me to do the same. I was enjoying school, so I didn’t. It did however lead me to notice what is totally obvious: the pattern of retirement for teachers was changing radically and rapidly. No longer is the norm to retire at 60 (early at 58) and maintain income with a combination of Teacher’s Pension plus part time teaching for the next 5 years until state pension. Numerous factors are driving this: law changes in age discrimination; increase in state pension age; increase in pensionable age for TPS; requirement to finance children well into adulthood as they cope with student debt and difficulty getting on the housing ladder. All these lead to teachers remaining in their full-time roles beyond 60; and potentially way beyond 60. How long before it is simply the norm for teachers to think of 67 as pension age and therefore the time to retire?

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It has always been difficult finding a place for the teacher in a rut: the deputy head appointed at 50 who realises at 55 they are probably not going anywhere else; and then just ‘marks time’ for the next 3-5 years until retirement. Very soon it will not be ‘marking time’ for 5 years; but for 10-13 years. Here then is the issue which must be faced: it is not possible to be an inspirational, dynamic school – the very ethos of the independent sector – with an increasing number of older staff who have lost their drive and vision and who are blocking promotion for staff coming up below them.

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I will qualify that. There is nothing inherent in older teachers losing their drive and enthusiasm; and I have known some very disillusioned ‘grumpy old men’ in their early 40s. However, there is obviously a broad correlation between getting older, slowing down, getting closer to retirement, and losing vision and drive.

It is entirely possible to retain dynamism and be inspirational well beyond 60. Achieving that will require plenty of realism about the aging process within teaching; and the fact that schools are likely to have an increasing percentage of their full-time staff well into their 60s. The crunch question which must be addressed is: how do schools use the vast experience of these teachers constructively to capitalize on their final stage of ‘grey head’?

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As a personal reflection, I gave up refereeing rugby when I turned 60. This was not because I lacked passion for the game. It was simply preventing me being unable to keep pace with play. As a coach I have watched from the touchline as a referee had no idea whether the ball was grounded because he was too old to run fast enough. I vowed I would go before it happened to me as a referee.

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Maintaining drive enthusiasm and relationship with the pupils does get more difficult with age. Being in touch which what they are reading, watching and doing, and having a good feel for what are the issues for parenting, is all very easy when your own children are of that age. Far more difficult the further you get from that. In the last lunchtime Chapel Club before the March 2020 lockdown the boys were talking about having to look after their elderly relatives: “Granny is 62, so we will have to be careful.” “Boys your chaplain is 65 and we are happily sitting on the chapel bean bags sharing a packet of biscuits without any concern for my welfare!!”

It is a particular quirk of the modern west that the elders are not respected as they have been, and still are, in most cultures in the world throughout human history. Since the sixties there has been an obsession with youth. Once someone has passed 50 there is a tendency to put them to one side. In contrast, Plato considered that the holders of senior positions needed to be 50, well into the second half of life, with plenty of life experience, to deliver the required wisdom. Yet so often today, just at the point where our staff should be moving into that stage of wise elder of the community, they are seen in modern management understanding as beyond another promotion and sitting it out until retirement. Creating new posts for older staff is an obvious solution. This would enable the senior member of staff to step sideways into a new role; potentially a one off created specifically for them and their unique gifts within the school. Such a role would need some real status, although probably also outside the formal leadership team.

A painful financially reality here is that it probably requires those teachers to be held on their senior staff pay point, or it is going to be a very unattractive move. It is also a painful financial reality that schools could be carrying ‘grumpy old men’ (and grumpy old women) who are not contributing much to the school for 10+ years.

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A change of school could be a real tonic for someone in a rut. There are however some obvious problems. Maintaining salary on a move is potentially a major one. This is dependent on the willingness of the receiving school to take them. How many reading this article would feel comfortable taking on a 58 – 60 year old for a normal full time teaching role? Yet that member of staff comes with huge experience and a clear 7 years of their working life left.

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I have learned that stating the completely obvious can have substantial value; so I make no apologies for doing so here. I have no answers, simply personal reflections to raise these vital issues and stimulate some creative thinking. The best schools will be well on the way to identifying ways to navigate this. There are also schools which are not really grasping this nettle. Depending on where we are in the Covid-19 Pandemic when you read this, you may consider it way down your priority list. However, I am assuming we will eventually emerge back into a world of pupils in school. Those older staff, who are seeing the possibility of retirement as a dim and distant future, will be there in our common rooms crying out for someone to open up a stimulating future for them; which will take them productively into their late sixties. The continued dynamism and excellence of the British Independent School sector will require visionary leadership to facilitate this.