GTC figures show teaching workforce is getting younger

The proportion of young people qualifying to teach has been increasing with 41 per cent of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in 2009 under 25, an increase of eight per cent of NQTs since 2006. The numbers of teachers under 39 has increased by six per cent in this period and has been accompanied by an eight per cent drop in those aged 45 to 59.

Despite initiatives to increase the proportion of male teachers, teaching is an increasingly feminised workforce with the proportion of female teachers growing fractionally to 74.6 per cent in 2010. The gender divide is even more marked in primary schools where just 12 per cent of teachers are men and 28 per cent of schools have no registered male teachers at all.

GTC figures also reveal a growing number of new teachers involved in supply teaching, with 14 per cent working in supply, up three per cent from last year.