This time last year, interest in teaching was sliding. Inquiries were lower than the previous year and we were worrying about how to attract people. This year, applications have gone through the roof. They are up 50 per cent.

Furthermore, there’s a lot of interest from older people: one third of applicants for teaching are aged over 30. That’s great: when people become teachers, they bring their life and experience with them.

Yet course providers need to make sure that people are going into teaching with the right motivations. Have they gone into a classroom and seen what teaching is like? What skills do they offer more broadly? It is really helpful if applicants can give evidence of an interest in education, such as having been a school governor.

With the sheer numbers of people applying, there might be a temptation for course providers to fill places quickly — but that is a mistake. There are groups, such as black, minority and ethnic applicants, especially males, who are late appliers.

Schools are generally savvy. If people are coming from different careers, they need to look for communication skills, people skills. Schools and course providers have well-tested mechanisms to sift people out early. A few people might think: “I’ll ride out the downturn in teaching.” We don’t want to spend a lot of time training people only for them to leave when the economy picks up.

Make sure you choose the very best. Don’t let the subjects that are easy to recruit for fill up if people can use their knowledge in science or maths, for example.

People underestimate teaching. They do need to visit schools before they apply. Their preconceived ideas are often either too positive or too negative. It’s a challenging job and not for everybody. Recruiters should be wary of candidates who have applied merely because of the long holidays or “the money’s not as bad as it used to be”. On the other hand, a lot of career-changers find it difficult to see how their skills are of use. Teaching is multifaceted, about interaction, relationships, imparting information, so many things that people use in other careers. It’s up to providers to help people to realise that the skills they have are valuable and to enable them to make the most of those in the school setting.

— Mike Watkins is the recruitment director of the Training and Development Agency

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