Many teachers joining the profession already have a wide range of career experience. They are attracted because teaching offers good opportunities for career progression and teachers are adapting their professional skills for the classroom in order to rise swiftly up the ranks.
This year we have seen a surge in public sector workers switching careers to become teachers, with the number of state employees entering teaching through the Training and Development Agency for Schools’ (TDA’s) Transition to Teaching programme more than three times that of 2009 — rising from 60 to 193.
The programme works with employers to promote teaching to high-performing employees considering a mid-to-late career change. In 2008, we worked with 49 public sector organisations; since then another 246 have joined.
Many public sector workers already have a passion for making a difference, which is a fundamental prerequisite for being a good teacher. What they also promise is increased diversity in our classrooms — the teachers of the next decade will hail from a wide range of backgrounds, whether they are former councillors or bankers, or bright new graduates. This can help bring the classroom experience to life for young people.
We know that there is a general trend for more experienced people to join teaching. Last year more than half of all entrants were more than 25 years old. This reflects the TDA’s own findings that, increasingly, graduates are switching to teaching from other careers as they find it offers a rewarding and challenging career with surprisingly good pay, benefits and prospects.
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Teaching is not an easy option and is not suited to everyone, but there is no shortage of experienced people who have dedication, motivation and the right qualifications for changing careers and entering the classroom. The increasing numbers of pupils coming in at primary level, who will feed through to our secondary schools in a few years, mean that we will need to continue to attract more good teachers into the profession for the foreseeable future.
We are working hard to lift the quality of entry into the profession too and, although more remains to be done, teaching is now at last a competitive profession that can afford to choose the best.
Teaching is one of the few professions that has reaped some benefits from the economic downturn, with an influx of talented applicants. More competition means teachers may have to be flexible about where they are prepared to work, but also that schools are able to choose from the very best candidates. It also confirms that teaching is now a career of choice.
The countries that give their children the best education are those that value their teachers most highly, and where the profession attracts the brightest graduates.
Our priority for 2011 is to deliver robust standards and high-quality teaching to all, whatever their background. To do this, we must continue to attract highly talented people because the quality of teachers has such a huge influence on children’s achievement.
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• Graham Holley is chief executive of the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) www.teach.gov.uk/traintoteach