Only 72 per cent of those who qualified at London colleges in the summer of 1999 were working in schools in March 2000, according to the latest figures from the Department for Education and Skills. By contrast, 81 per cent of trainees in the East of England were teaching nine months later.

The DFES is investigating these regional differences. Are London’s trainees doing supply work not covered by these figures? Has their experience of the capital’s schools put them off teaching? The availability of better-paid jobs may be another reason why they have voted with their feet.

But that alone fails to explain why so many qualified teachers - more than 80,000 in England alone - have sought other careers (“The lost army of recruits”, TES, March 22). Some of the 1999 cohort may have been teaching in schools not covered by the DFES survey, others will have gone abroad to teach, and some will have been taking a gap year. Nevertheless, more than 6,000 teachers who completed their training in 1999 were outside the state school system nine months later.

Judging by the 1999 cohort, women completing undergraduate degrees in teaching are most likely to enter the profession, with some 76 per cent taking posts. However, only 66 per cent of the, admittedly smaller, number of men on the same courses were teaching. The difference was less marked amongst postgraduate students, with 71 per cent of men, and 76 per cent of women, who completed the course, becoming teachers.

But some 40 per cent of those who start training never become teachers (this proportion includes those who drop out during their course). This seems an unacceptable wastage rate. Market forces may rule, but at what cost?

John Howson

John Howson is a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University and managing director of Education Data Surveys. Email john.howson@lineone.net