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Why is primary school teaching more competitive

This isn’t me trying to hate on it or anything like that. I think a teacher at any level is a teacher and all routes take hard work.

I’m just interested in why that route is more competitive. Is it because more people choose it?
I don't know that the primary route is more competitive than the secondary route in certain popular subjects (like PE and History). In general though, if a route is more competitive, it's because more people are interested in teaching that specialism than there are jobs that need filling.

Off the top of my head, I would imagine primary draws people in for a variety of reasons.
- Opportunity to teach a range of subjects rather than just sticking to one
- Appealing for people that want to really get to know every student they teach
- Accessible to people who did degrees in subjects that are not taught (or not widely taught) at secondary, such as sociology, psychology, and a bunch of others
(edited 2 years ago)
@04MR17 might have some insight into this?

One thing might be a need for fewer primary teachers perhaps? You don't need a teacher for every subject since most primary teachers teach all subjects so you just need one per class. Although there may be more students in total at that age, not sure.

It may also just be more people want to go into primary than secondary. I mean I wouldn't want to teach personally but if I did I'd much rather teach younger kids than the demons known as teenagers...how any of our teachers managed to control a classroom of teens in secondary school, I know not :s-smilie:
(edited 2 years ago)
Im a primary teacher.

Some of my reasons:
Teaching a variety of subjects.
Having one class that i can really get to know.
Have always enjoyed working with younger children.
Keen interest in Early Years and child development.
Hated my time in secondary school so im put off working with teenagers.
Original post by artful_lounger
@04MR17 might have some insight into this?

One thing might be a need for fewer primary teachers perhaps? You don't need a teacher for every subject since most primary teachers teach all subjects so you just need one per class. Although there may be more students in total at that age, not sure.

It may also just be more people want to go into primary than secondary. I mean I wouldn't want to teach personally but if I did I'd much rather teach younger kids than the demons known as teenagers...how any of our teachers managed to control a classroom of teens in secondary school, I know not :s-smilie:

There's definitely the same level of demand for teachers at each stage, bar fluctuations in birth rate. Teachers have roughly the same number of contact hours and PPA periods across both ages and stages. And students need supervising at all times. Most primary schools will employ e.g. specialist music and PE teachers as PPA cover for other staff.

I do think it's behaviour management that puts a lot of people off secondary.

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