Teaching is the most popular career choice among young people in Britain, according to a new study. 

A survey has found that a third of Generation Z - those aged 14 to 24 - say they are actively considering or planning a career in education.

However, the results were significantly skewed by gender - with 27 per cent of young men choosing teaching, compared with 40 per cent of women.

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Of the 1,000 young people surveyed by Fly Research, on behalf of event company Vidcon London 2020, 34 per cent said they were considering or planning a career in education.

The second most popular choice was engineering - attracting 32 per cent of respondents.

And in third place was “influencer”, a term used primarily to describe people who make a career out of social media, which was chosen by more than a quarter (28 per cent) of those surveyed.

The news might come as a surprise to those currently working in schools, as recent statistics have shown the government is missing its overall teacher training targets at both secondary and primary level. 

This is the seventh consecutive year the secondary target has been missed.

Meanwhile, almost one in three teachers leave the classroom within five years of starting teaching, and teachers are now more likely to drop out after their first year in the classroom than at any time since 1997.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of those surveyed identified “making lots of money” as the most important aspect of their potential career, followed by “helping others” (42 per cent) and “flexible working” (37 per cent).