Young teachers and students have been the subject of some splendid stereotypes in the popular media. From The Young Ones to Teachers, they have carved rich furrows beyond the TV watershed, full of scurrilous humour and lashings of sex, drugs and foul language.

But the truth is very different. The fact is that the current generation of students all have a price on their heads. Shackled by student loans and course fees, they represent ever more attractive subjects for companies and organisations that want them as customers either right now if possible, or else later on when they emerge as professionals in the world of work.

Some of them, the banks in particular, could probably tell you how much a student teacher is worth in the lifetime of their account - and, apparently, very few students actually switch accounts during the course of their careers.

Recruitment and freshers’ fairs are choice hunting grounds for these prize specimens. On a recent trip to two of these events in Aberdeen and Glasgow, bounty hunters from The TES brushed shoulders with bankers, trade unionists, travel companies, health advisers, political activists and Christian evangelists, all looking for a piece of the action as students fought to sidestep commitments and scoop up carrier bags loaded with goodies.

Students are becoming well aware of their pulling power.

“Excuse me, are you a student teacher?” The eye contact breaks, the body swivels and the subject homes in on the next possible source of freebies. The chances are, only a “we’re giving, not selling” can stop them in their tracks. So there is such a thing as a free lunch?

A free teddy bear and mug here, 20 per cent off books there, a few chocolate-chip cookies along the way - or some wine and premium lager next to the stand of a major high street bank.

Yet despite such stiff competition, The TES has something of real value to offer prospective teachers. So if you stumble across The TES at one of these fairs, expect to discover a few gems.

Student recruitment fairs play an important role in adapting the profile of the paper for a new generation of readers, and they provide very important feedback from readers about their changing priorities and needs.

For example, we now know that student teachers who are not au fait with the latest information and communications technology would appreciate a two-week ICT course before starting their main course of training.

Otherwise, how can they cope with a two-hour session on ICT and absorb such a welter of information?

Perhaps they could do what students at Strathclyde University’s Jordanhill campus did - run their own self-help groups to prevent co-students from falling behind.

Feedback is vital and enables the editorial team to commission articles that are relevant to readers.

So if you have your guard up against a swarm of people who look keen to relieve you of your student loan in double-quick time, you might think about making an exception for the best education paper money can buy.

You’ll find free TES survival guides, The TES itself and vouchers to buy four editions for a penny each - and you’ll still have time to sign up for the parachuting society.

Maureen McTaggart is the student and NQT co-ordinator at The TES. You can contact her at maureen.mctaggart@tes.co.uk