More needs to be done if we want graduates to become teachers

My answer, for the most part, was a firm no and it turns out, according to new analysis from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), I wasn’t the only history student refuting this stereotype.

Part of the research’s analysis calculates a “propensity to become a teacher” score for different degree subjects. French and English come out on top and theology, religious studies and geography are not far behind. This is fairly consistent with evidence from undergraduate surveys that their intentions are to enter teaching as well as having less obvious vocational links like medicine, dentistry or engineering.

Additionally, these are mostly subjects that tend to have lower average earning potential, making the teaching salary perhaps more attractive to these grads.

Last week new national and provider-level information and entrants numbers to initial teacher training (ITT) courses in England were released. Conclusions from these stats are hard to draw a quick line on whether teacher recruitment is going up in line with government aims to fill teacher shortages. Postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT) for primary level did better compared to secondary PGITT recruitment, but was lower than last year and government targets for secondary school recruitment last year were notably and controversially lower than many felt they should be.

As shortage subjects remain an issue as well as attracting and retaining new teachers, what role can providers play when it comes to both encouraging graduates to take up teaching opportunities and to improve ongoing support for current students?

Despite being a shortage subject, mathematics graduates have a higher likelihood of becoming teachers than the average graduate, potentially because of the high bursaries.

Just thirty-eight per cent of new maths teachers have maths degrees, with eleven per cent having business and administration related degrees – like accounting, economics, seven per cent in engineering and four per cent in psychology. Similar trends can also be seen in the number of graduates becoming teachers in the four core STEM shortage subjects.

The report recommends that universities and initial teacher training providers should pay attention to subjects that are popular and growing in applicant choice but have a low relative likelihood of entering teaching as a means to recruit more teachers.

These are subjects that currently provide few teachers, have a clear link to a shortage subject in need of more teachers and, ideally, are subjects that have a large and growing number of graduates. Lots of students who study business and administration courses may have quantitative skills that would allow them to contribute to filling maths teacher shortages, for example.

NFER recommends ITT providers should look at admissions guidance and marketing to ensure it is clear to students from a wide range of career or study backgrounds can see if they meet the selection criteria, even if relevant subject knowledge may not be directly obvious from the degree they hold.

This should also influence how courses are marketed, with explicit acknowledgement that grads would be welcome and this could be done by ITT providers establishing links with key university departments in non-ITT subjects.

The recommendations are practical and don’t rely on government or institutions coughing up more money or resources. Yet there feels a piece to the puzzle missing. Filling the teacher shortage isn’t solely about recruiting more and wider, though it’s sure to help, it’s also ensuring these roles are attractive, accessible and that the pipeline of future teachers is nourished and retained.

But despite offering the highest bursaries to train language teachers where there are acute shortages, and language graduates being most likely to become teachers, significant shortages remain. This is no doubt caused by languages not being longer compulsory in key stage four. If you reduce the pool of students able or willing to study languages at degree level from so early on, no amount of bursaries are going to fix the longer term issue of fewer grads having the skills required to be a language teacher in the first place.

Financial barriers to entry are explicit in the completion of placements. My sister has started their ITT course, works full time hours and countless hours to lesson plan and study but isn’t being paid. She’s lucky enough to live at home, mitigating some of those costs, but not every potential teacher has that luxury.

While there are currently school direct placements that offer a salaried placement, not all of these offer a PGCE qualification, nor are they readily available in all locations.

Gen Z graduates are a promising bunch. They’re more likely to desire a career that will help others or contribute to society than previous generations, intentions which historically have been associated with making graduates more likely to become a teacher. Yet, if there isn’t a holistic approach to teacher recruitment and retention that considers the lifelong learning experience, financial challenges, and how accessible these roles are, the same problems will only continue to grow.