There has been a lot of talk about how challenging graduates are finding the job market at present. Is this ‘difficult’ job market for graduates showing up in renewed graduate interest in teaching as a career? The DfE has published the latest (April 2026) data about application to teacher preparation courses as a 20^th April 2026. Initial teacher training application statistics for courses starting in the 2026 to 2027 academic year – Apply for teacher training – GOV.UK

While there has been a modest increase in applications to be a teacher for most areas of the United Kingdom – the North East, Northen Ireland and Wales excepted – the biggest increase continues to be from the ‘rest of the world’ grouping, up by a massive 42% on April 2025. Only three regions in England have percentage increases in double figures: the East Midlands, London and the North West. The South East, South West and Yorkshire and The Humber regions have increases in applicants of less than five per cent.

Area	Apr-26	Apr-25	Difference	% Diff
EM	2427	2062	365	15%
EE	2831	2630	201	7%
LON	6504	5711	793	12%
NE	1068	1108	-40	-4%
NW	4106	3595	511	12%
SE	3975	3817	158	4%
SW	2167	2066	101	5%
WM	3362	3120	242	7%
YH	2808	2720	88	3%
	29248	26829	2419	8%
EEA	582	528	54	9%
NI	447	473	-26	-6%
RoW	12251	7096	5155	42%
SCOT	203	196	7	3%
WALES	384	418	-34	-9%
UNKNOWN	106	120	-14	-13%
	13973	8831	5142	37%

Increases at this level do not yet suggest a significant switch to teaching in large numbers. Indeed, the increase in England as a whole is just 2,419 extra applicants, or 8%.

One significant increase is that of male applicants, up from 13,234 to 18,111. However, it is impossible to know how many of these extra male applicants have come from the ‘Rest of the world’ pool?

There are also large differences in the increases from ‘new 2026’ graduates and older graduate. However, the ‘Rest of the world’ effect may be skewing this data

Age	Apr-26	Apr-25	Difference	% Diff
21	3126	2994	132	4%
22	4256	3968	288	7%
23	3682	3369	313	9%
24	2828	2613	215	8%
25-29	10287	7824	2463	24%
30-34	6763	4618	2145	32%
35-39	5144	3899	1245	24%
40-44	3524	2860	664	19%
45-49	2012	1756	256	13%
50-54	956	919	37	4%
55-59	446	455	-9	-2%
60-64	158	145	13	8%
65+	37	33	4	11%
unknown	4	7	-3	-75%
	43223	35460	7763	18%

Total applicants at 43,221 remains well below the record of 67,269 applicants for similar courses recorded by the UCAS GTTR scheme in the 2009/2010 round during the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. To that number must be added those that applied for school-based courses, such s the GTTP that did not recruit through UCAS, as well as the Open University, that also did not recruit through UCAS.

Higher Education – up from 24,028 to 30,104 has borne the brunt of the extra applications. SCITTs have shown little growth, up from 11,293 to 11,544, perhaps because overseas applicants are less familiar with this toute into teaching. This might also explain the lack of any increase in the ‘partner-led’ courses. Apprenticeships are on the increase, up from 4,783 to 7,894, but ‘salaried route remains static at 5,883 compared with 5,389 last year in April 2025.

Even before the DfE announcement of the ‘needs’ numbers for 2026, ‘offers were down at 20^th April at 17,880, compared with 18,297 in April 2025.

I have written a separate post about the state of play with regard to ’offers’ in secondary subjects. In the primary phase, applicant numbers are up from 12,502 to 14,797, but ‘offers’ for primary courses are little changed, up from 6,992 to 7,106. However, as the DfE ‘need’ has reduced ‘need’ from 7,650 to just 5,520 for 2026, there are likely to be few if any more offers, as the ‘need’ figure is already some 1,500 below the ‘offer’ number.

So, there is no great rush towards teaching as a career from United Kingdom graduates. Whether that will change over the next couple of months as final examinations are completed, and the reality of the job market hits home, only time will tell. But, for would-be primary teachers, I expect that the  ‘bus has now left the stop’ and it was already fully laden.