IT WAS a sad fact that fewer people wanted to be teachers, a Darwen head told parents and staff at a presentation evening last night.

Richard Bridges, of Darwen Moorland High School, said that last year Estelle Morris, now Education Secretary, had claimed: "We are all educators now."

"Sadly, the reality is that fewer of us want to be educators in the formal sense," Mr Bridges added.

Thousands of teacher-training places remained unfilled, particularly on post-graduate courses, and recent research had shown that very few current school pupils were planning to become teachers. And vacancy rates were rising, particularly in shortage subjects and urban areas. By 2006, half the profession would be over 50, and one-third of non-retiring teachers intended to leave the profession within five years.

"Last year, more than 26,000 teachers quit without pensions," Mr Bridges said. Good parenting was increasingly difficult and demanding, and so was teaching. However, members of Darwen Moorland were rising to the challenges of our time.

"The last year has been very eventful and successful, and it has seen much positive activity and achievement of which we should be proud."