We are disappointed the Teacher Training Agency was not offered an opportunity to comment on interpreting the latest figures for applications for initial teacher training through the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (“Muted response to TV recruiting ads”, TES, February 11).
The increasing proportion of trainees on employment-based and other routes means GTTR applications present only part of the picture, and we are not yet halfway through the recruitment year, so it is too early to draw the conclusion in your headline.
The “Use Your Head. Teach” campaign aims to stimulate enquiries about teaching, particularly in priority subjects. Those are up 32.8 per cent on last year - 48.5 per cent in maths, 39 per cent in sciences and 11.7 per cent in languages.
Your report states there was a “string” of complaints - actually 13 - about one of four TV ads. But you did not clarify that the Advertising Standards Agency said there was no case to investigate. The fact is interest in becoming a teacher has never been higher.
Geoff Webb Director of communicationsand marketing Teacher Training Agency Portland House, London SW1
