The number of international candidates applying to initial teacher training (ITT) providers has rocketed by more than 300 per cent year-on-year.
Up to November 2023, there were 4,705 international candidates who had submitted one or more applications this cycle, far above the 1,111 recorded by the Department for Education in the same time period last year.
The figures, which cover countries outside the European Economic Area, come amid severe teacher shortages, with many school leaders warning they are unable to fill rising vacancies.
However, experts warn that “the majority” of international applicants are not recruited, and the rise in applications is “placing unsustainable pressures” on training providers.
Overall, the data published by the DfE today suggests that recruitment may have improved, with the total number of candidates accepted on to secondary courses rising by 18 per cent year-on-year, from 1,356 to 1,596.
The number of potential secondary teacher trainees who have submitted applications so far this cycle is 9,519, far above the 5,118 recorded in the same time period last year - and an increase of 86 per cent.
More applicants to teacher training
Overall, the number of candidates applying to ITT across primary and secondary courses is up by 49 per cent, rising to 13,447, from 9,015 this time last year.
However, Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), said the overall increase in applicants “is not as rosy as it might seem, as it is primarily driven by a huge surge in interest from international applicants”.
“A similar surge towards the end of last year’s cycle did not translate into the same numbers of recruited teachers, so it is also unlikely to do so this year,” Mr Worth said.
November is also too early in the recruitment cycle to draw any firm conclusions, he added.
This year the DfE has changed the way this data is reported, with the figures only reporting the number of candidates, rather than applications.
James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), said the rise in overseas applicants was creating extra workload for providers.
”The unprecedented increase in the number of overseas applicants - the majority of which won’t translate into actual recruits - is placing unsustainable pressures on [initial teacher education] providers,” he said.
UCET is discussing action that the DfE could take to address the problem, he said, such as “better messaging to overseas applicants and a means to divert ineligible overseas applicants from reaching providers through the apply system”.
Initial teacher education providers would consider all applicants on an equitable basis and welcome “applications from suitably qualified candidates from overseas”, he said, adding: “But applications from people who have little or no chance of being recruited need to be discouraged and diverted.”
