Applications to primary initial teacher training (ITT) courses have fallen by almost a fifth year-on-year as experts warn of a “worrying” trend.
The data has been published amid wider concerns over teacher supply and as teachers prepare to strike over pay later this week.
In April 2023, there were 6,527 “placed” ITT applicants on primary courses - those that were recruited, accepted a conditional offer or deferred an offer - down from 8,100 in April 2022.
The 19.4 per cent fall is up from February’s 15 per cent, suggesting a worsening picture.
Applications to secondary courses, meanwhile, have fallen year-on-year for the first time in 2023.
While the government announced an increase in bursaries across several secondary subjects for 2023-24, primary courses were not given funding for next year.
And last year, the Department for Education missed its own targets for primary recruitment by 7 per cent.
Speaking to Tes about the recruitment picture at primary, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) school workforce lead Jack Worth said: “I think it’s really worrying because primary is usually a course type that attracts the right numbers.”
Mr Worth said that the course over-recruited during the pandemic and tends to meet or sit around its target.
However, Mr Worth said that today’s data “clearly” shows that “interest in entering primary teaching is a lot lower than it has been in the recent past, which is very worrying”.
He added that the figures “fit a broader trend” alongside subjects lacking a bursary.
Overall, the number of applicants placed on courses is down by 9.8 per cent year-on-year, with 14,599 recruited by April 2023, compared with 16,191 this time last year.
And the number of trainees placed on secondary courses is 0.5 per cent down on 2022, despite a hike in bursaries.
Last month, a report by the NFER predicted that the government would miss its teacher trainee recruitment target for the second year in a row, despite a hike in bursaries.
Mr Worth admitted that, after last year’s under-recruitment, he did not think it would “be even worse this year”.
Mr Worth warned that teaching “needs to become more attractive”.
Ian Hartwright, senior policy adviser at the NAHT school leaders’ union, agreed there needed to be “a compelling proposition for teaching as a career to attract well-qualified graduates”.
This would require protection against current high levels of inflation, “action to reduce crushing workload” and Ofsted reform, he added.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that if the trend of under-recruitment for primary courses was “not reversed” then “education standards will suffer”.
He added: “The failure to meet these recruitment targets is merely reaping what has been sown over the last decade - below inflation pay awards, funding cuts resulting in increased workload and a high-stakes accountability system that drives stress and anxiety.”
Responding to the ITT data out today, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “The number of teachers in the system remains high and there are now more than 465,000 teachers working in state-funded schools across the country, which is 24,000 more than in 2010.
“Although the number of new postgraduate entrants to primary was below target by 7 per cent in 2022-23, we have seen strong recruitment in primary in recent years and exceeded our targets previously - achieving 131 per cent of the PGITT target in 2021-22, and 125 per cent in 2020-21.
“We take account of several factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions and teacher supply need in each subject and phase when reviewing the bursaries for the next academic year.”
