Nearly A Third Of New Teachers Quit State Sector Within Five Years

Education experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell say academy trustees must do more to retain teachers after Government figures revealed that almost a third quit the classroom within five years of qualifying.

Schools minister, Nick Gibb, said that of the 21,400 who began teaching in English state schools in 2010, 30% had quit by 2015.

In his written parliamentary answer to a question by Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland, the schools minister stated that more 13% of newly qualified teachers left after a year of teaching, meaning 87% continued to work in the classroom.

The government claims it is a proportion largely unchanged over the last twenty years.

That figure fell to 82% after two years in profession, 77% after three years, 73% after four years and 70% after five years.

Teachers’ leaders said the figures were the result of excessive workloads, demanding assessments and constant changes within the education sector, such as new policies on academisation, which are all factors causing teachers to leave the profession.