§ Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has on the age structure of the teaching profession in England and Wales for (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DunnThe age structure of full-time teachers in maintained primary, including nursery schools and in maintained secondary schools on 31 March 1982 was as follows:
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England and Wales: Full-time teachers Maintained primary (including nursery) schools* Maintained secondary schools† Number of teachers (000's) Percentage of total Number of teachers (000's) Percentage of total Under 25 7.5 4.1 16.3 6.7 25–29 26.4 14.5 49.4 20.3 30–34 28.1 15.5 49.6 20.4 35–39 26.1 14.4 36.6 15.0 40–44 25.2 13.9 29.8 12.2 45–49 26.7 14.7 25.3 10.4 50–54 23.9 13.2 20.5 8.4 55–59 13.5 7.4 12.2 5.0 60–64 4.1 2.3 3.8 1.6 65 and over 0.1 0.1 0.1 ‡ All ages 181.6 100.0 243.6 100.0 * Including middle deemed primary schools. † Including middle deemed secondary schools. ‡ Less than 0.05 per cent. I refer the hon. Member to the White Paper "Teaching Quality" (Cmnd. 8836) which was presented to Parliament by my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales in March 1983. In it they drew attention to the relative youth of the teaching force: two teachers in every five in nursery, primary and secondary schools combined were below the age of 35. The average age of teachers would be expected to rise during the 1980s. My right hon. Friends referred to the need for local authorities to manage the teaching force in a way which would minimise any longer-term difficulties arising from the changing age structure of the teaching force.