Teaching has always been a popular career for graduates but the recession has brought a new wave of enthusiasm for jobs in the classroom. Of the final-year students surveyed by High Fliers Research in March, almost 14 per cent said they were considering going into teaching – making it the most popular career destination for the first time in the survey’s 14-year history. By the start of June applications for courses through the Graduate Teacher Training Registry, operated by Ucas, were up almost 22 per cent on last year.

Alison Feist, head of teacher education at Anglia Ruskin University, says that job security, improved starting salaries and good employment prospects make teaching an attractive option but a passion for working with young people is critical.

“People come into teaching because they want a job that is rewarding, where they feel they can make a difference,” she says. “Primary courses fill up quickly but, at secondary level, science and maths teaching jobs still outstrip supply. The most able graduates should not have trouble securing places in training.”

A variety of courses provide a route into teaching. Teach First, a charity that aims to bring exceptional graduates into disadvantaged secondary schools, takes only candidates with a 2:1 degree and 300 Ucas points. This year it has had 2,874 applications for about 600 places. The most popular Postgraduate Certifcate in Education courses – the more usual route – also fill up quickly. A place should mean a job: the Government determines the number available on courses leading to qualified teacher status to ensure that there is not a significant oversupply. But you cannot be too picky about where you work.

Martin Dore, head of mathematics and science recruitment at the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), says: “You need to be reasonably flexible.”

Provided that you are, you can look forward to a career of 3.30pm finishes and long summer holidays. Or perhaps not.

“It’s a myth that teachers don’t do any work in the holidays,” says Debra Myhill, above, head of the School for Education & Lifelong Learning at Exeter University. It is the work done during term time, however, that most people underestimate. It is not just the class preparation, marking and form filling that add significantly to the hours – there is the teaching itself. “In a way, you are performing all day,” Myhill says.

Half of newly qualified teachers leave the profession within the first three years, according to the National Union of Teachers. Some, however, never intended to stay in teaching long-term – Teach First is aimed at just such candidates. Often, though, they leave because of the workload and pupil behaviour, says Ron Clooney, a national executive member for NASUWT, another teaching union.

He adds: “It’s the persistent verbal abuse and low-level disruption. Together with the workload and bureaucracy it grinds people down.”

Teaching is still a tremendously satisfying career but not quite as easy as it can look from the outside, Clooney says. “It’s like the swan you see gliding along gracefully but you don’t see all the paddling going on.”

Starting salaries range from £20,627 up to £25,000 (in inner London). Experienced classroom teachers earn between £35,000 and £42,000, rising to £61,000.

Financial help for training is available in the form of tax-free bursaries of up to £9,000 from the TDA for subjects including maths, science, IT and modern languages. In addition, “golden hellos” of up to £5,000 are available to graduates at the start of their second year of teaching, once they have successfully completed their induction period. You can also train on the job through the employment-based teacher training scheme. Graduate Teacher Training Registry, www.gttr.ac.uk

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