More Top Graduates Going In To Teaching :: The latest figures released by the Department for Education suggest that two-thirds of post-graduate teacher trainees achieved a first class or upper second class degree whilst at university. These figures, for the year 2011-12, are up three percentage points on 2010-11. Indeed, more than 3,000 of the graduate trainees included in this research (12%) had a first class degree – up two percentage points on the previous year. The number of students with a 2:1 also rose to around 15,000, accounting for 55% of all graduate trainees and a rise of one percentage point.

As should be expected, rises in the number of graduates with a first class or upper second class degree means that those  entering the teaching profession with a 2:2 have fallen – in this case by two percentage points to around 27% of the total or 7,500 individuals. The number of those with a third class degree also fell very slightly. In total, 32,900 individuals completed teacher training courses in 2011-2012, of which the majority (27,144) were postgraduates – the remainder having taken an undergraduate degree which confers teacher status itself.

These latest figures were also encouraging in terms of the number of individuals who are working within six months of finishing their courses as a trainee teacher. Among those who gave their employment status, 91% had been offered a role – a rise of 5% on the figures from the previous year. This may suggest a link between the quality of teachers under-going training and their likelihood to be offered a role – in short, better teachers are recognised by schools and are offered a position sooner than those who did not achieve as well.

However, among suggestions of teacher shortages in the foreseeable future, it is worrying that early figures suggest that applicants for teacher training places have fallen – perhaps by as much as 15% in the following year.

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