asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers have been made redundant since May 1979.

The Department does not collect information about redundancies as such, but the number of teachers and lecturers who have retired early on redundancy grounds since May 1979 is approximately 6,300. We do not at present know how many of these were serving in primary or secondary schools at the time of their retirement.