Bad Economy, good teachers. The countercyclicality of enrolment into Initial Teacher Training Programmes in the UK

Sandwiches from 12:15, Seminar at 12:30

Labour market conditions are considered to have a significant effect on graduate labour market behaviour. Using data from Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) we take advantage of the plausibly exogenous variation in the unemployment rate (by field of study) at time of graduation to investigate the impact of labour market conditions on teacher supply (measured by enrolment onto an Initial Teacher Training Programme (TTP)). We find that graduates are more likely to enrol onto a TTP when labour markets are tight. However there is sufficient heterogeneity in the response which suggests that tight labour markets have a negative effect on both the quality and diversity of graduates enrolling.