Teachers are leaving the profession in increasing numbers, with a quarter of a million no longer working in schools, according to figures published by the Conservatives yesterday.

More than twice as many teachers aged under 60 quit their jobs between 2000 and 2005 than in the previous five years.

The Conservatives blamed excessive red tape in schools, poor discipline amongst pupils and “micromanagement” by the Government for forcing teachers to change careers.

The figures show that 95,500 teachers left the profession between 2000 and 2005. In the previous five years, from 1995 to 1999, only 40,600 teachers left.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, said: “[Teaching] talent is going to waste. Not only are our children not achieving as they should, talented teachers are not where they should be – in the classroom, opening young minds to new horizons.

“With more than a quarter of a million gifted professionals no longer in teaching we have to ask why they’ve given up on education under Labour.

“I fear that a combination of classroom bureaucracy, government micro-management and poor discipline in too many schools has encouraged a drift away from teaching.

“We need to free teachers to inspire [pupils] and give them the tools to enforce discipline so that schools have access to the widest range of talent.”

However Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said that Labour had done more to support teachers than any previous government.

He said: “Recruitment into the profession has never been more buoyant, and teaching is now the career of choice for many highly qualified and talented individuals. Indeed, Ofsted has said this is the best generation of teachers ever.

“Early retirement and turnover in teaching is in fact good compared with equivalent professions.”

Mr Knight said a recent survey of 22,500 British workers found that teaching at schools, colleges and universities had climbed from being the 54th happiest occupation in 1999 to the 11th happiest in 2007.

A spokesman for the Training and Development Agency for Schools said: “Many qualified teachers decide to take a break from the profession for a number of reasons.

“The figures released do not take account of the fact that up to 30,000 teachers return to teaching at a later date, with added industry experience and a new enthusiasm for teaching and learning. Many also choose to remain within the education sector in an administration capacity.”

Teachers’ unions said the figures were accurate but disputed the reasons given by the Conservatives for teachers leaving the profession.

Chris Keates, the general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “The number of inactive teachers is probably correct. The reasons given by Michael Gove for their inactivity are, however, overly simplistic and fly in the face of the evidence.

“Qualified teachers are in the ‘pool of inactive teachers’ for a variety of reasons, mostly because of career changes or career breaks. Their moti-vation for a change in direction has varied over the years. For the majority of those who leave now, evidence shows it is a positive choice.

“Seeking to manipulate statistics in a way which implicitly criticises and denigrates schools just to score political points is grossly unfair to hard-working teachers and pupils.” Ms Keates added that the number of teachers who dropped out after three to five years had “fallen significantly” and studies of levels of job satisfaction were “increasingly positive”.

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