Who wants to be a teacher? Findings from a survey of undergraduates in England

Abstract

Having enough (appropriate) teachers is a foundation for a good education system, yet teacher shortages in some areas and subjects are a widespread problem. This paper examines the views of 4,469 undergraduate students in 53 universities in England, with a few follow-up interviews, on what they are looking for in their envisaged future career. In this way, the analysis goes beyond the usual approach by including young people completely uninterested in teaching, those who considered teaching but rejected it, and those intending to be teachers. The study shows that prospective teachers tend to come from less prestigious occupational and educational backgrounds than their peers at university, have lower qualifications, and to study more generic subject areas with no clear occupational end point. They report an interest in sharing their knowledge and giving something back to society, more than pay and prospects, discipline, workload or similar issues. Financial incentives might appear to be important, but their role disappears when the outcomes are modelled using logistic regression, with predictors entered in biographical order. These, and other differences to the standard picture, are discussed in the concluding section that shows why this inclusive and biographical approach provides an important corrective on how to attract new teachers to the profession.