Primary schools lose 650 teachers

Eunice Lam

The number of teachers in about 500 primary schools has dropped by 650, with the ranks of experienced teachers affected the most, according to the Education Bureau's Primary School Profiles.

The profiles published on Monday showed about 24,800 primary teachers in the city, down 2.6 percent from last year.

Among the 650 teachers who quit, 510 had more than 10 years' experience, while teachers with four years of experience or less dropped by 133 from last year.

The number of those having five to nine years' experience was similar to the last academic year.

The ratio of teachers with over 10 years' experience declined from 62 percent to 58 percent five years ago, while the proportion of teachers with five to nine years of experience increased from 15 percent to 21 percent in the same period.

Those with four years of experience or less accounted for some 20 percent of the total teacher population.

All information in the profiles is provided and verified by schools according to their situation as of April this year and may differ after the new school year began this week.

According to a Legislative Council document in June, the bureau said teacher turnover rate in public primary and secondary schools - including government, subsidized and aided schools - rose sharply from 4.5 percent in the 2020/21 school year to 8.9 percent in 2022/23.

The turnover rate fell back to 8.3 percent in 2023/24.

Meanwhile, the proportion of newly recruited teachers to the total number of teachers in public schools has increased from 4.7 percent in 2020/21 to 7.4 percent in 2023/24.

Polly Chan Suk-yee, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association, said the brain drain within the profession is showing signs of abating compared to three to four years ago, as the wave of emigration declines.

"Back then, even if schools offered to hire them, teachers may not necessarily take the offer, saying that there were pending replies from other schools or they were reconsidering whether to take the offer or not," Chan said, adding that the phenomenon used to be rare in the industry.

She did not believe class reductions or demotions to teaching assistants will lead to job losses for teachers.

She said English teachers who can also teach music or other cultural subjects are still popular among primary schools.

But Chan also felt middle-ranking teachers tended to be younger, from five years of working experience to below four years.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com