The number of people training to be teachers rose generally between 1998 and 2001.

But the latest analysis by the Teacher Training Agency shows that the biggest increases were in the older age groups, as people switched careers.

The figures relate to primary and secondary postgraduate teacher training courses for all subjects.

They are to be published in full on Tuesday as part of the agency's "performance profiles" of training providers.

Public sector revival

In 1998, 1,100 people aged 40 to 44 began training.

A year ago, I was in floods as I hugged my closest friends, about to embark on what could prove to be the most expensive folly of my life Rich Peters How one man switched careers

In 2001 - the most recent, provisional figures - the equivalent number was 1,903, a rise of 73%.

There was a similar rise in the 45 to 49 age group and a rise of 94% among those aged 50 to 54.

In the oldest category, those aged 55 and over, there were 13 trainees in 1998 and 120 in 2001 - small in total, but a big increase.

It is still the case that 86% of all trainees are under the age of 40, but there has clearly been a shift. In 1998 that proportion was 89%.

The training agency's director of teacher supply and recruitment, Mary Doherty, says two thirds of the applicants are under 30 - but she detects a renewed interest in public sector work.

Shortages

"We had this 'me generation' in the Thatcher era, but I think people do find that a bit hollow," she said.

"These are the same people who perhaps a few years on have become disillusioned with their first career and are thinking, 'is this it? - is this how I'm going to spend the rest of my career?'"

The much-publicised teacher shortages a couple of years ago had led to people re-evaluating the role of teachers - ironically, the bad publicity had drawn attention to what teaching offered, with improved pay and conditions.

Many of those making the switch were people disappointed that the jobs they had been doing had not drawn as much as they had hoped on their specialist subjects, she said.

Teaching, on the other hand, allowed them to talk hour after hour with young people about the subject that excited them.

Ms Doherty said she had been talking recently to a linguist who got far more pleasure getting 12 year olds conjugating verbs than she had ever done managing a budget worth millions of pounds in her previous job.

Flexibility

The economic slowdown was another factor. Redundancies in a particular area would produce a crop of applications for teacher training, for instance from information technology specialists.

The teachers' pension was also more secure. And the hours were more "family friendly" - which was not to say the work was easy.

"When you are working you are fairly flat out, but we have had people who say, OK, at the end of a teaching day at 4.30 I can go and have a meal with my family and put my children to bed.

"I might do some work after that, but I have had the time with my family I couldn't have in other jobs."

Ms Doherty is pleased that many people seem to be adopting more flexible careers that include teaching. But she is not complacent.

"We are trying to recruit about 35,000 people to teaching each year," she said.

"I wouldn't want to underestimate the challenge."