Disruptive pupils are causing an exodus of young teachers from the profession in search of more family time and less red tape, research indicates.

Four in ten new teachers quit the profession within two years because of unruly pupils and excessive workloads, the research from the General Teaching Council (GTC) suggests.

The first major study into why young teachers are fleeing the profession comes after official figures last month suggested pupil behaviour is at an all time low, with 2,200 disruptive children sent home every day.

The Government has blamed parents who forbid the school from disciplining their children for disruptive classrooms; it will next week outline plans for dealing with rowdy pupils.

Sixty per cent of teachers who left the job two years after qualifying choose careers outside of education with higher salaries and lighter workloads. It costs £68 million each year to train teachers who do not stay on in the profession, according to funding estimates.

The GTC called for a campaign to bring disillusioned teachers back into the profession.

Keith Bartley, GTC chief executive, told the Times Educational Supplement that a significant number of newly-qualified teachers were choosing to leave before they had even entered the classroom full time or after a very short time.

“I don’t want anyone to leave because they are burnt out or demoralised,” he said. “What is important to us is that every teacher who leaves the profession feels positive about teaching and sees returning to the profession in the future as a possibility.”

Chris Keates, of the NASUWT teaching union, said trainee teachers were not being provided with the necessary support to deal with disruptive pupils in their first year. “We have the potential to lose some extremely talented young teachers if we don’t start to get some schools to take seriously the fundamental need to make sure that first year is properly managed,” she told Times Online.

Dr Pamela Robinson, a senior education researcher at the University of Buckingham, said pupil behaviour was driving out teachers to an unprecedented extent.

“Schools are merely reflecting what is going on in the streets outside,” she said. “It’s a significant concern, and means there’s a greater need for good school leaders than ever before.”

Andrew Hobson, associate professor of education at the University of Nottingham who led the GTC study , said some new teachers were driven out by bad experiences in their first job.

“If they come back to a different school and have a more positive experience, it is possible that they could be perfectly happy in the profession for many years to come,” he said.

David Laws, Schools spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: “It’s vital that we act to reduce some of the pressure on teachers, otherwise we will loose some very talented individuals from the teaching force who may never return.

Jim Knight, the schools minister, insisted there had never been a better time to become a teacher, with an improvement in behaviour across the sector.

“Teaching is a challenging but deeply rewarding role, though we recognise that more needs to be done,” he said.

“We continue to talk to experts on the frontline to learn how we can improve conditions.”

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