Supporting Parent-Trainees: What New Data Tells Us About Teacher Recruitment
(Guest Blog)
12th June 2026
Emma Sheppard
Founder, The MTPT Project
New data obtained by The MTPT Project through a Freedom of Information request offers fresh insight into the number of trainee teachers who may be balancing teacher training alongside parenting responsibilities. In this guest blog, Emma Sheppard explores how schools and providers can better support parent-trainees during their ITT year.
Parent-Trainees: A Valuable Recruitment Group
Thanks to figures published every year in the DfE’s ITT Census, we know that half our trainees entering the profession are aged 25 and over. But with new data secured by The MTPT Project through a freedom of information request, we can now make better guesses about how far parenting identities might act as a motivation for joining the profession.
Trainees aged 30-49 make up a fifth of each ITT cohort, and 13 per cent are aged 30-39. The probability, therefore, of these trainees entering the profession already balancing caring responsibilities for dependent children, or combining their training years with pregnancy, expectancy and periods of parental leave, is high.
Interestingly, the rates of male trainees in these age brackets are consistently higher than female. Almost a quarter of total male trainees are aged 30-49, in comparison to 19 per cent of all female trainees. A similar pattern is seen in the 30-39 age bracket where 16 per cent of total male trainees fall into this typical “child-bearing” period of life, and 12 per cent of all female trainees.
At secondary level, Design and Technology, MFL and Physics have consistently high rates of trainees aged 30-39, and in recent years, Computing has been particularly popular amongst women in this age group.
Art and Design and Chemistry attract higher rates of these older male trainees, and 1 in 5 male Primary trainees are aged 30-49.
This demographic represents a valuable recruitment group, contributing existing skills with children, prior experience in professional environments and in adult networks, and organisational skills to the workplace. But they also experience problems and constraints that include the logistics of childcare, financial pressures, domestic commitments and changes to family life because of beginning teacher training (Griffiths, 2022). Such constraints are exacerbated for single parents and parent-trainees with limited support systems.
Nicola Blunden, Associate Tutor of Business and Computing at the University of Sussex has seen this first hand:
“The parents in my cohort are empathetic, and their experiences bring a different form of patience and techniques to the classroom. They are skilled at blocking their time and being as efficient as they can possibly be.
But it can be a juggle with childcare, and it is challenging for them to relocate for employment after the course. Many can train in Computing because there is a bursary, and this enables them to provide for their families, but courses without bursaries present a greater challenge.”
Understanding Parent-Trainees
Although we ask about age, ethnicity and other protected characteristics in recruitment processes, questions about parenting identity would almost certainly be considered discriminatory. Any assumption that these trainees are also parents, therefore, can only be drawn by proxy of age.
How, then, can we gather the information to better understand, and support more parent-trainees during their ITT year?
At recruitment and onboarding stage, schools and ITT providers probably already advertise support measures in place for trainees holding different identities – affinity groups, coaching, specific spaces like prayer rooms or lift access. Including provisions for parents in this sharing signposts an inclusive culture without asking about pregnancy, expectancy or parenting status directly.
At Stockton SCITT, trainees are invited to write a profile about themselves, which includes “three things I’d like you to know about me”. Here, they often share information about parenting responsibilities or logistical barriers around transport, commuting and childcare.
“Ultimately, it’s about creating a culture of support that allows trainees to share these details, knowing that doing so helps us to plan more appropriately around individual circumstances. Trainees know they can come to us if there’s a problem and we can make flexible and appropriate adjustments.”
Gemma Molyneux, Curriculum Development Adviser at Stockton
Why Flexibility and Mentoring Matter
Within schools, parent-trainees share that two factors make a huge difference to their experience: flexibility, and the mentor-trainee relationship. Many trainees may find themselves mentored by younger colleagues, or those without an understanding of working parenthood, or experience in other careers. When mentors have an understanding of what it is to be a working parent, and when placement schools are flexible, parent-trainees get off to a better start.
Ciaran Barry had two young children when he began his training as a Geography teacher, where 17% of male trainees are men aged 30-39. As well as the “security of the profession – a reliable job with a guaranteed pay scale”, which enabled him to support his family, teaching appealed to him as a father because it offered a career where he could “instil in students an enthusiasm and interest in the world, and positive qualities like caring for others” – skills that Ciaran finds make him a better parent.
He added: “However stressful the term is, and on those days when I might have to work late after putting the kids to bed, I will always have the holidays where I can fully focus on enjoying time with them.”
Looking Ahead
The lure of the school holidays, and a stable and fulfilling career are already well-advertised. But improved and equalised maternity and paternity packages, and more flexibility in training pathways and teaching and leadership roles could do even more to entice career-changers into the classroom.
Upcoming Events: Supporting Student Teachers Who Are Parents
The MTPT Project are running a series of online workshops designed to support trainee teachers who are parents, alongside the mentors and teacher educators who work with them.
The programme explores how parent-trainees can navigate the transition into teaching, while also providing practical guidance for mentors and programme teams supporting them throughout the training year.
Supporting Trainees who are Parents
8 July | Online | For mentors, ITTE leads, PCMs and TSH colleagues
Teaching and Parenting: Realistic Expectations
9 July | Online | For those preparing to balance teacher training with their parenting roles
Teaching and Parenting: Managing Change
21 July | Online | For trainee teachers who are parents
Supporting Trainees who are Parents
10 September | Online | For in-school mentors supporting trainee teachers who are parents