THE reasons why teachers leave the profession have been highlighted in a new survey by watchdogs.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland examined the reasons why more than 850 teachers between the ages of 21 and 45 left in 2016.
Of the 433 responses thirteen per cent said they had taken a career opportunity abroad.
Other prominent reasons included taking a career break, changing career and high workloads.
The GTCS said: “The complexity of teaching, and the emotional, physical and mental energy it takes to turn up every day and motivate children can simply be too much for some who decide that teaching is simply not for them.
“Some trainee teachers do not appreciate the level of demand of a full teaching timetable.
“Finally, and sadly, some see teaching as a fall-back position should they fail to secure better paid employment and this is particularly an issue with trainee teachers in the STEM subjects.”
The GTCS said most trainee teachers go on to become teachers. Of 2,965 trainees in 2016/17, only 190 withdrew.
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