Why do teachers leave teaching?

In short

Most teachers who leave state-funded schools do so for reasons other than retirement – a change of career or a move to another part of education. Workforce statistics show how many leave; surveys of teachers tell us why, citing workload, wellbeing and pay.

Two kinds of evidence

It’s worth separating them. The DfE’s administrative statistics count how many teachers leave and their broad destinations – around nine in ten leavers move out of the state-funded sector rather than retiring, and the leaver rate has recently fallen. But these figures don’t record motivations.

Survey research (such as the DfE’s Working Lives of Teachers study) asks teachers directly, and consistently points to workload, wellbeing, pay, flexible working, behaviour and professional development as the factors shaping whether teachers stay. Both matter – but they answer different questions, and shouldn’t be blended.

📊 See retention by cohort

Sources & how this was made

Key official sources: the Department for Education’s Get Into Teaching and Teach in Further Education services, and GOV.UK guidance on initial teacher training, qualified teacher status, FE initial teacher education funding and the Early Career Teacher Entitlement; the Society for Education and Training on QTLS; and DfE statistics (School Workforce in England, the ITT Census, Teacher demand and postgraduate trainee need, and the Further education workforce releases) on Explore Education Statistics, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Last reviewed: 15 August 2026. Teacher training rules, funding and figures change – always confirm current details with Get Into Teaching and GOV.UK.

How this was made: developed and cross-checked with AI assistance alongside expert human review by tutor2u. It is an independent, plain-English guide, not official DfE guidance.