The Teacher Training Agency is to join the National Union of Teachers in conducting a survey of 3,000 students from sixth forms and further education colleges, to find out how they see the teaching profession and what influences their views. The TTA hopes that the results will help the agency target future recruitment campaigns more precisely.
The agency’s current cinema campaign, in which celebrities praise their favourite teachers, has generated around 1,000 new enquiries a week, but some critics have argued that the adverts perpetuate the view of the teacher as a self-effacing altruist who furthers others’ glittering careers.
