This research report was commisioned by the Mathematical Association and funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. The smith inquiry (2004) highlighted the serious shortage of well-qualified secondary mathematics teachers. In response to the Smith Inquiry recommendations, initiatives have been set up to increase the recruitment of new secondary mathematics teachers, but the Teaching Committee of the Mathematical Association feels strongly that it is also bery important to investigate why experiences secondary mathenatics teachers leave teaching and to see what might be done to retain them. The purpose of this research was to perform an initial, small-scale investigation ino the factors that influence secondary mathematics teachers' decisions to leave teaching to make preliminary recommendations and to pave the way for more large-scale government research into the issue of retaining secondary mathematics teachers.

This paper addresses issues related to the effectiveness of teacher education in Pakistan in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), through a small scale collaborative research study in two state secondary schools, one girls' and one boys'. The aim was to explore how newly qualified teachers manage their transition from student teachers to classroom teachers. In teasing out the relationship between teacher training experiences and classroom practice, we highlight the importance of greater consideration of the social and professional contexts of the school within training programmes as a means to make sustained improvements in the quality of classroom teaching and learning.