‘Unfulfilled’ graduates directed towards teaching

A £12 million government advertising campaign is to redirect "workers in unfulfilling jobs" towards a career in teaching.

Backing the campaign, School Standards Minister David Miliband said there has never been a better time to be a teacher: “By providing more support, we are ensuring that teachers have the time and space to do what they do best - teach. There are now 25,000 more teachers in schools since 1997 and over 80,000 more support staff. With better pay and support, teaching has become an attractive career option.”

However, these claims were refuted by a recent survey of Head Teachers for the Times Education Supplement that revealed that almost 3,500 jobs had been lost this year in secondary schools.

While the government blamed the cuts on falling pupil numbers, the poll of secondary school head teachers indicated that three-quarters of the redundancies had not resulted from fewer pupils as cuts had taken place in schools where pupil numbers were similar, or in some cases even higher, than in previous years.

The latest government campaign catch lined 'use your head, teach' aims to attract people to a career in teaching. It uses images of headless figures to demonstrate how well qualified people are under-using their skills and knowledge in the workplace.

An associated advertising drive in newspapers, magazines and poster sites, and a website will support the commercial. The whole campaign will cost around £12 million in its first year.

According the government figures a previous campaign, 'Those who can, teach', attracted more than 100,000 people into teacher training in England over three years.

This scheme was widely criticised by educationalists and teachers for its approach to the issue, and for failing to attract people into teaching as a long-term career.

Some trainees on postgraduate courses in England are entitled to a tax-free training bursary worth £6,000.

(SP)