Ninety-five thousand teachers left the profession between 1996 and 1999, schools minister Estelle Morris revealed this week.
The exodus peaked in 1997-8, when the rules on early retirement were tightened. That year 34,250 teachers, 8.2 per cent of the total workforce in England, eft the classroom - 1,000 more than the previous year.
However, in response to a question by Conservative MP Nick St Aubyn, Ms Morris said that provisional figures for 1998-9 show that the numbers quitting teaching then fell to 27,600 or 6.6 per cent of the profession.