The Government was looking to improve the quality of teachers entering the profession, especially for in-demand subjects like maths, physics and computing. This had to be achieved against a backdrop of a nation emerging from recession with more opportunities than before and a heated relationship between the teaching profession and the Secretary of State, Michael Gove.
The recession had driven a shift in what people were looking for from a career. It was no longer all about the money; they wanted to make a real difference.
The USP of teaching is its duality: it is a great career for the individual and allows you to have an impact on future generations. We would bring to life the surprisingly competitive individual benefits while highlighting the powerful emotional rewards of a career in teaching.
Our campaign was launched under the banner of Your Future, Their Future and our launch film featured Mr Burton from Channel 4's Educating Yorkshire. It was designed to address the biggest barrier to a career in teaching, that salary is low, in a surprising and thought-provoking way. The hero film then led into deep content within the staff room where the viewer could spend time with real teachers, watching them in action and hearing about their experience first hand using digital media to its full potential.
views across all channels in the first month of the campaign.
The campaign has driven a reappraisal of teaching and we have seen deep engagement with the content across the website and social media, testament to our digital first approach. We have also seen a 70% increase in registrations to teach, with a high proportion among highly competitive subjects such as physics and maths.