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There has been a marked rise in interest in graduate jobs in teaching in recent months. This, at least in part, is being put down to changes in thinking during the credit crunch period.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) says that their website has registered a 40% increase in enquiries since the start of the financial crisis. The TDA has surpassed its recruitment target already - and the amount of people who are able to teach maths is up by a quarter on the same period last year.

The TDA has also set up the Transition to Teaching scheme to help people at companies which are experiencing job losses to make a new start in teaching.

The chief executive of the TDA said that there is, “a lag between people who express an interest in teaching, and those going on to become teachers. But even a 1% increase at that end means 4,000 new teachers.” He added that the current level of interest was unprecedented.

The trend is also backed up by Teach First who run a teacher training scheme for graduates. They also report that they have seen a significant increase in applications for graduate jobs in teaching. Their director of graduate recruitment, James Darley told HR website, Peoplemanagement that applications for their scheme - which aims to place the best people in graduate jobs in ‘challenging’ secondary schools – were up by 90% this year.

It is thought that the surge in interest could be due to people trying to position themselves in graduate jobs which are less likely to be affected by the economic downturn. It is part of a noticeable personnel drift from the private to the public sector – perhaps in an effort to gain more security in the current climate. Many people are considering changing from careers in such sectors as banking into jobs with charities, for instance. The civil service has also noticed a huge increase in applications - up a third on last year.

So, whether you are looking for the perceived security of graduate jobs in the public sector, or if you think there may now be less competition in the private sector – then start your search at our Graduate Jobs Search page.