Rise in male primary school teachers throughout recession

The number of men applying to become primary teachers has risen sharply in the last year, according to statistics released this week.

The figures, published by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), the recognised sector body responsible for the training and development of the school workforce, show an increase of over 50 percent in the number of males applying to train as primary teaching staff.

In 2008/09, there were 3,200 male applicants, compared to 2009/10, where over 4,700 applied, with many new applicants coming from other employment sectors.

The rise is being attributed to the economic downturn in the UK, leaving teaching regarded as a more secure job than roles in business and media.

Graham Holley, TDA Chief Executive, said: “There has been a sharp rise in applications to teaching training from people working in other professions. It is a profession with increasing status that is becoming more and more competitive.

“People recognise that teaching can fulfill their ambitions, provide challenges and offer rewards such as a competitive salary and great opportunities for career progression.”

Andrew Crawford, a second year student doing primary teaching at Edinburgh University, who was previously two years into a journalism degree at Napier, told The Journal: “Certainly the job security was a factor in my decision to switch to teaching.

“There was an element of the economic factor in that decision, in that people were letting go of journalists rather than taking them on. And primary teaching appealed, because you’re guaranteed a job for a year when you come out of university, so you’ve got the opportunity to prove yourself.”

Asked about any increase in the number of male students on his course, he said: “We’ve noticed that there’ve been a lot more male applicants coming in for interviews in the last few days.

“I think it’s a good thing, because I don’t think we’ve got enough male role models for young children.”

However, Elena Novo-Cabana, the course secretary for the BEd in Primary Education at Edinburgh, said: “In terms of the number of males on the course, I’d say it’s fairly constant with the last few years. That’s not to say that the number of applications themselves hasn’t increased, of course.”