New research reveals what really attracts graduates to teaching
- 27th Nov 2025
- Jenni French
A new Gatsby-funded study has provided some of the clearest evidence to date on what influences graduates’ decisions about entering the teaching profession.
Conducted by Dr Sam Sims and Clare Routledge at UCL’s Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO), the research challenges long-held assumptions about why people do – or do not – choose to become teachers.
Using a large-scale survey experiment with more than 2,000 undergraduates in the UK and US, the study asked participants to choose between pairs of hypothetical jobs that varied in pay, workload, flexibility, social impact, pension, and other attributes. This approach avoids the common limitations of traditional surveys, which rely on self-reported motivations which can be influenced by social desirability bias.
The findings are striking.
Extrinsic rewards drive job choices
Across both countries, extrinsic factors such as salary, working hours, and paid leave were the most powerful drivers of job choice. Altruistic motives did play a role – participants were willing to accept lower pay for roles with high social impact – but these effects were consistently smaller than the influence of pay and workload.
For example:
- Increasing salary by the difference between a typical graduate job and a teacher’s starting salary increased job attractiveness by 9%.
- Increasing working hours from a 40-hour week to a typical teacher workload reduced attractiveness by 15%.
- Increasing paid leave from six to 13 weeks (reflecting teachers’ holiday entitlement) increased attractiveness by 11%.
Importantly, these patterns were even seen among those undergraduates who said they were already considering becoming teachers.
Potential teachers look more like the general graduate population
The study also found that graduates who might be persuaded into teaching do not have a fundamentally different motivational profile from other undergraduates. Personality traits, values, degree subject, and gender made only limited differences to their preferences.
This challenges the widespread assumption that potential teachers are uniquely altruistic or mission-driven.
Implications for recruitment and policy
The research suggests that teacher recruitment campaigns need to take a more balanced approach. While the meaningful, socially impactful nature of teaching remains a strength, campaigns should also highlight:
- Competitive starting salaries
- 13 weeks of paid leave
- Opportunities for flexibility
- Improvements in workload and working conditions
The authors also suggest that policy reforms focusing on improving extrinsic rewards – particularly early-career pay and workload – are likely to have the greatest impact on encouraging more graduates to enter teaching.
Gatsby Response
Responding to the findings, Jenni French, Head of STEM in Schools at the Gatsby Foundation, said:
“This research provides some of the clearest evidence yet on what actually matters to graduates when they choose a career. It shows that if we want more talented people to become teachers, we need to be honest about what drives their decisions: competitive pay, manageable hours and clear, early-career rewards. Teaching is an incredibly meaningful profession – but meaning alone won’t fix shortages. Evidence like this can help government design policies that genuinely attract the graduates our schools need.”
Why this matters now
England continues to face severe teacher shortages, particularly in secondary subjects such as physics, maths and computing. The latest 2024–25 ITT Census shows secondary postgraduate recruitment reached just 62% of target, with physics recruitment at a critical 31%.
With graduate interest in teaching falling, understanding what actually motivates potential entrants has never been more important.
This research gives policymakers clear, actionable evidence to design recruitment strategies that work – and brings us closer to tackling England’s long-standing teacher supply challenge.
