Teachers leaving the profession (FOI)

​Request

A
How many teachers have left the profession for reasons other than retirement in:
a. 2015
b. 2016
c. 2017

B
How many teaching posts have been filled by teachers without the necessary subject specific expertise or experience for the coming academic year?

C
How many teaching posts have been filled by supply / temporary staff at the start of the present academic year?

Response

A
a. Of the 76 teachers who left a primary or secondary school between September 2014 and August 2015, 62 left due to other reasons than retirement.

b. Of the 69 teachers who left a primary or secondary school between September
2015 and August 2016, 48 left due to other reasons than retirement.

c. Of the 57 teachers who left a primary or secondary school between September
2016 and August 2017, 46 left due to other reasons than retirement.

B
The information required to respond to this request is not held by the Education Department and therefore cannot be supplied.

C
As at the end of September 2017, there were no roles that were 100% filled by temporary staff. Of the 764.6 FTE of teachers, 5.4% (41.5 FTE) are on a fixed term contract. This information does not include supply teachers (staff on zero hour agreements).

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –
(a)    it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or
(b)    it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 4 - Meaning of “information to be supplied by a public authority”

(1)       For the purposes of this Law, the information held by a public authority at the time when a request for the information is received is the information that is to be taken to have been requested.

(2)      However, account may be taken of any amendment or deletion made to the information between the time when the request for the information was received and the time when it is supplied if the amendment or deletion would have been made regardless of the request for the information.