Older teachers bring "life experience" to the classroom

Figures from the General Teaching Council for Wales show that nearly one in five newly-qualified teachers who joined the register this year was in their late 30s and 40s.

This means that, of the 1,500 who gained "Qualified Teacher Status", almost 300 were in the post-35 age bracket - 60 more than last year.

The GTCW believes this reflects the successful promotion of teaching careers and the Graduate Training Programme, which has attracted people from other occupations.

Gary Brace, who is Chief Executive of the GTCW, welcomed the trend.

Having spent many years doing something else before you start teaching gives you that extra bit of insight and perspective when handling pupils. Gary Brace, GTCW

"Maturity and life experience are excellent assets in the classroom where you've got to cope with so many different personalities and challenging situations." he said.

"Having spent many years doing something else before you start teaching gives you that extra bit of insight and perspective when handling pupils.

"There's the added bonus that many of the new entrants have been parents themselves for a number of years before they start teaching," he added.

Gender

The GTCW's figures also showed that the gender gap in teaching is continuing to widen.

Women outnumbered men three to one among last year's newly qualified teachers, and the trend continued this year with 76% of recruits being women.

Many new teachers are also parents

It also showed that men and women share the same amount of head teacher jobs.

Despite the overwhelming dominance of women in teaching as a whole, men have traditionally taken the majority of head teacher posts at both primary and secondary level.

The new figures show that there are now 940 female head teachers in Wales compared to 960 males - a split of 49.5% to 50.5%.

Mr Brace said this was a good sign.

"Clearly a better balance between men and women head teachers is welcome, although we haven't got enough information yet to explain the trend." he said.

"This figure may simply reflect the growing majority of women teachers - particularly in primary schools."