This report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) shows that the first lockdown in March 2020 led to a decrease in the well-being of teachers – with a rise in distress, anxiety and lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, monitors the progress schools in England are making towards meeting the teacher supply challenge by measuring the key indicators and trends of teacher supply and working conditions.
The report also highlights how the relative ’recession-proof’ feature of teaching has led to a surge in the number of people applying to enter the profession.
The report finds that the teaching profession, having relatively high job security compared to an uncertain wider labour market, led to an increase in applications to initial teacher training (ITT) in 2020 and 2021.
After application numbers increased rapidly over the summer of 2020, enrolments in postgraduate ITT in 2020 were 20 per cent higher than the previous year, with the overall targets for primary and secondary trainees being exceeded.