Australia as a nation is failing to retain the best people in the teaching profession. Attrition rates are worryingly high with researchers estimating around 30% to 50% of teachers leaving in the first five years.

It is difficult to get a clear idea of the precise number of teachers leaving over this period in Australia because each state and territory collects its own statistics, and there is no established mechanism for tracking movements between educational systems.

The latest data collected from all states and territories suggests an average of 5.7% (21,404) of teachers left the profession in 2014. It shows attrition rates vary across the country, and are higher in the Northern Territory at 15.94%.

Although the attrition rates of early-career teachers aren’t necessarily higher than rates in other professions, the implications of these losses are far reaching.