Career Patterns of Secondary Mathematics Teachers

This research report was commisioned by the Mathematical Association and funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. The smith inquiry (2004) highlighted the serious shortage of well-qualified secondary mathematics teachers. In response to the Smith Inquiry recommendations, initiatives have been set up to increase the recruitment of new secondary mathematics teachers, but the Teaching Committee of the Mathematical Association feels strongly that it is also bery important to investigate why experiences secondary mathenatics teachers leave teaching and to see what might be done to retain them. The purpose of this research was to perform an initial, small-scale investigation ino the factors that influence secondary mathematics teachers' decisions to leave teaching to make preliminary recommendations and to pave the way for more large-scale government research into the issue of retaining secondary mathematics teachers.