The Great Resignation sparks a rise in searches for teacher training courses in Sheffield

Searches for teacher training courses have risen dramatically in Sheffield since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.

For the first time in nearly a decade, overall recruitment of initial teacher trainees exceeded the national target in 2020-21, up 6% on the target for secondaries and 30% above for primaries.

Sheffield saw an increase of 16.15% between 2019 and 2020 for teacher training courses, while the majority of the cities seeing the biggest spike were located in the north of the country.

To get a better understanding of specific trends around transitions to teaching over the course of the pandemic, Access Education analysed thousands of Google Searches using Keyword Planner to identify the subjects seeing the biggest rise in demand as well as the UK locations seeing the most change.

The findings have been published in a new report, Boardroom to classroom: How has the pandemic impacted career switches to teaching?, by Access Education, a software specialist for schools and academies.

Adrian Brown, founder of My School Portal, an Access Education company said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably changed how some people think about life, work and whether or not they are happy within their existing role. Over the past two years we’ve seen thousands of people deciding to throw caution to the wind and not only consider a new role, but perhaps a different profession altogether.

“The remarkable work of teachers throughout the pandemic was recognised across the country, with many going above and beyond to ensure learning could continue. These heroic efforts clearly inspired others to consider a role in teaching – perhaps as they sought a more meaningful and fulfilling career.”

Click here to view the full research, Boardroom to classroom: How has the pandemic impacted career switches to teaching?

Methodology

Using Google’s Keyword Planner tool, Access Education looked at a range of seed keywords associated with teaching to gain an understanding of the search landscape for terms related to teacher training. Keywords included ‘primary school teacher training’, ‘maths teacher training’ and more.

For the regional data, we took a look at more generic teacher training related terms for each location such as ‘teacher training’ to establish a wider list of terms.