---

Schools: Teachers

Answer

The previous Answer (WA 185) provided numbers of secondary teachers leaving the maintained sector by total length of service in each year from 1997-98 to 2005-06, irrespective of when they qualified. It did not provide information specific to newly qualified teachers and so cannot be used to estimate how many newly qualified teachers left their posts within the first six years of working in maintained sector secondary schools. It is not the case that more than 50,000 newly qualified teachers left their posts within the first six years of working in maintained sector secondary schools since 1998. The following table shows the percentage of newly qualified secondary teachers who were still in service in local authority maintained schools a number of years after qualification.

Percentage of full and part-time¹ secondary teachers that qualified in a particular year and were still in service in the maintained sector in England a number of years later
Year qualified²	Newly qualified entrants	First year in service³	Percentage in full or part-time service the following number of years later
			1 year	2 years	3 years	4 years	5 years	6 years	7 years	8 years
1997	9,300	1997-98	89%	82%	77%	73%	70%	68%	67%	65%
1998	8,700	1998-99	89%	81%	76%	73%	71%	69%	67%
1999	8,800	1999-00	89%	82%	77%	74%	72%	70%
2000	8,900	2000-01	90%	83%	78%	76%	72%
2001	9,700	2001-02	91%	83%	79%	75%
2002	11,600	2002-03	91%	84%	80%
2003	13,000	2003-04	91%	85%
2004	13,300	2004-05	91%

"Source: Database of Teacher Records (DTR).""Figures relating to 2004-05 and 2005-06 are provisional; entrant numbers rounded to nearest 100.""1. Teachers in part-time service are under-recorded on the DTR by between 10 and 20 per cent and therefore these figures may be slightly underestimated.""2. Calendar year in which the teachers qualified.""3. Financial year during which the teachers entered service.""The length of service may not have been continuous; for example, not all of those shown as teaching eight years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for eight years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector." "Figures relating to 2004-05 and 2005-06 are provisional; entrant numbers rounded to nearest 100.""1. Teachers in part-time service are under-recorded on the DTR by between 10 and 20 per cent and therefore these figures may be slightly underestimated.""2. Calendar year in which the teachers qualified.""3. Financial year during which the teachers entered service.""The length of service may not have been continuous; for example, not all of those shown as teaching eight years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for eight years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector." "1. Teachers in part-time service are under-recorded on the DTR by between 10 and 20 per cent and therefore these figures may be slightly underestimated.""2. Calendar year in which the teachers qualified.""3. Financial year during which the teachers entered service.""The length of service may not have been continuous; for example, not all of those shown as teaching eight years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for eight years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector." "2. Calendar year in which the teachers qualified.""3. Financial year during which the teachers entered service.""The length of service may not have been continuous; for example, not all of those shown as teaching eight years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for eight years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector." "3. Financial year during which the teachers entered service.""The length of service may not have been continuous; for example, not all of those shown as teaching eight years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for eight years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector." "The length of service may not have been continuous; for example, not all of those shown as teaching eight years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for eight years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector." The latest available data can only be used to track three cohorts of qualifiers from 1997 onwards for six years after entering service. Of the 9,300 secondary teachers who qualified in 1997, around 3,000 had left service six years later; in 1998, the corresponding figures were 8,700 and 2,700, respectively; and in 1999, the corresponding figures were 8,800 and 2,700, respectively. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of subjects taught by those teachers leaving the profession. It can be seen from the table that wastage rates have remained largely constant over this period with decreases evident in recent years. Many teachers return to service after a break. In 2005-06, the latest year for which figures are available, around 10,000 qualified teachers returned to service in the maintained sector (all school types) after a break of at least one year.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

2373; 700 c36-7WA

Session

2007-08

Related items

Schools: Teachers
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Written questions
House of Lords

Subjects

Teachers Secondary education Resignations

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk