The number of Maths graduates deciding to go into teaching has doubled in a year, according to a survey by the graduate careers’ service Graduate Prospects.
Its study, What Do Graduates Do?, has found one in six Maths graduates - 15.5 per cent of the 2003 graduating cohort - are now heading for the classroom, either becoming teaching professionals or undertaking postgraduate teaching qualifications.
This compared with fewer than one in twelve - 7.9 per cent - of 2002’s Maths graduates.
Teaching is also becoming more popular for graduates from other disciplines too.
Geography showed the second highest increase, said Graduate Prospects, while English was another boom subject.
The number of graduates entering clerical and secretarial positions had declined, down three per cent from 14.3 per cent in 2002 to 11.3 per cent in 2003.
But it still accounted for a significant proportion, more than one in ten, of early job destinations for graduates, said Graduate Prospects.
Chief executive Mike Hill said: “The report simply highlights that graduates from some degrees take longer than others to decide on their long-term futures, often taking more administrative positions while they consider their options; others use such positions as footholds into companies for which they would like to work. The idea that all graduates should sail from university into high paid graduate jobs within weeks of graduation is a myth and always has been.”
Intriguingly for employers looking to tap into graduate talent, more than half of those polled said they were still “just getting a feel” for the job market as their degrees came to an end.
Research released yesterday by the Teacher Training Agency also found that almost a third of newly qualified secondary school teachers in Britain have swapped managerial or senior professional jobs for a career in the classroom.