KEY POINTS:
The lure of working overseas or starting families appear to be the main factors in teacher resignations reaching a five-year high, a report has found.
The Ministry of Education's Teacher Loss Rate Report has found 4035 teachers left the profession in the year to May, a loss rate of 10.8 per cent - up from 10.1 per cent last year.
The number of primary school teachers leaving totalled 2258, which was significantly higher than last year, the report said.
Some 1719 secondary school teachers left the profession, which was only a slight increase.
Many of the losses were among younger teachers, aged from 25-39, which the report attributed to people starting families or going to work overseas.
There was a higher than usual rate of pregnancies for the time period, it said.
It attributed high loss rates for teachers aged 65 to 79 to retirement.
A total of 177 principals left the profession, well up on last year's 135.
School closures did not appear to be a significant driver in this, the report said.
Principals Federation president Paddy Ford told the Dominion Post many primary principals were resigning because of dissatisfaction and inadequate resources.
Secondary Principals Association president Peter Gall said there was a demand for principals' expertise overseas.
"There's a need to get quite a bit of recruitment into principalships in years to come," he said.
Overall the number of teachers in New Zealand increased by 0.8 per cent, the same rate as last year.
- NZPA
