Information obtained from 91 of the 112 sixth-form colleges in England and Wales reveals dramatic changes in working practices in a year.

They show that principals have cut back the number of full-time fixed-term contracts, dropping by 19.2 per cent in 1995 after an increase of 45.5 per cent the previous year.

They also show a 2 per cent cut in full-time permanent staff while the number of part-timers increased by 22.1 per cent, or 36 per cent over two years.

For the first time, the statistics reveal the subjects with highest turnover rates - religious education, craft, design and technology (CDT), and the sciences.

Recruitment was highest in commercial and business studies and physical education, and lowest among teachers of physics and CDT.

Around two-fifths of the full-time teachers who left in 1995 retired - of which six out of 10 went prematurely. The other main destinations were work in another sixth-form college or within the LEA sector.

The statistics disclose that the number of women quitting is on the increase. In 1995, more than half of the teachers who resigned were women - a rise of almost 10 per cent in a year.

In 1994, male lecturers were more likely than women teachers to resign, and accounted for more than half of those who left. The bulk of the staff who went in 1995 were teachers with little responsibility. Less than 8 per cent were people in top jobs, either principal or vice-principal. Almost half the people who resigned had worked for the college for six years or less.

Turnover of full-time permanent teachers from sixth-form colleges was highest in the North, North-west and East Midlands and lowest in the South-west.

Recruitment was highest in Yorkshire and Humberside and the South-east, and lowest in the West and East Midlands.

More than half the recruits were women; almost half were under 30 and around four-fifths were recruited to low-grade posts.