Lads, don't leave it too late to apply

The number of applications for PGCEs is buoyant. However, late applications are a problem, with men being the main culprits. Emma Haughton looks at trends in teacher training

The business of training teachers is thriving, with popular courses oversubscribed and many institutions hopeful of hitting their targets in shortage subjects like maths, science, modern languages, design and technology, and ICT.

"Even our maths PGCE has recruited to target, which is encouraging," says Marelin Orr-Ewing, PGCE secondary programme leader at the University of the West of England. "We've been impressed by the volume of applicants. I think the publicity about the training salary has increased applications. There wasn't a huge difference the first year – it took a bit of time for people to realise that it's there, that there are no catches and it's not means-tested."

Lorraine Harrison, PGCE primary course leader at the University of Brighton, has also found recruitment levels to be buoyant. "It's very competitive and we're very pleased with the calibre of applicants – an encouraging picture compared with a few years ago. I think students are more discerning now. They have access to much more information on the internet and tend to come with a much clearer idea of why they've chosen this particular course and institution. So we're getting a much closer match between the course and the students – which is better for us and better for them."

The problem is rather one of late applications, she says: "People aren't really aware of the system, and the need to apply almost a year beforehand." Scott Dean, senior administrator at the school of education, University of Wolverhampton, agrees: "Some are not aware of the deadline for applying being in December; others are, but think they will still get in. But really you need a year to get some money and experience of looking at primary schools in your area."

John Fisher, PGCE admissions tutor at the University of Bath, has noticed that it's particularly a problem with male applicants. "The primary and other popular PGCEs tend to be full by Christmas, generally before the men have even got their act together, which is exacerbating the problem of teaching becoming an all-female profession. I think it's gender characteristic – men are much slower at making decisions, getting organised, getting their application forms in, but by the time they do, many find they have missed the boat."

Unfortunately, as institutions never know what their recruitment position is going to be later in the year, those who get their applications in first tend to have the best chance of a place, Fisher says. Bath also has a challenge in meeting Government targets for ethnic minorities, because its partnership schools in rural Somerset or Wiltshire don't always have many staff or children from these groups.

"We're making a real effort to reach out to those people from ethnic minorities and make sure they know about us, but I think there is still an image, or a reputation still persists, amongst ethnic minorities that the old polytechnics are more liberal, more encouraging, offer greater flexibility in recruitment, and are generally more welcoming than somewhere like Bath," says Fisher. "Of course, that's just not true. We have a significant proportion of people from ethnic minorities on our courses, and they do very well."

Bath is also working hard to get more schools actively involved as partners, and extending the range of subject areas they offer to trainee teachers. "In some parts of the country, there simply aren't enough schools to go round, so recruitment is not being determined by the number of application or TTA targets, but by the number of places on offer by local schools," says Fisher. "We are totally dependent on schools wanting to work with us. They take a lead role in training programme and assessment, and we rely on them to be involved in the training of teachers."

But it also benefits the schools, he explains, with many trainee teachers appointed to full-time positions in the schools where they did their teaching practice. "It means schools can be on the ground floor when it comes to recruitment. After all, getting to know someone as a person after they have been in the school for up to 18 weeks speaks far more than any reference."

education@independent.co.uk