Teaching, mentoring youth and other services
associated with formative investments in
human capital tend to be accepted, largely on a priori grounds, as imparting a social value over and above their economic value. While teaching
is neither a highly paid nor a highly specialised
profession, the common understanding
among parents and pupils is that the quality of
teachers, and indeed the attributes of particular
teachers, matter for the way people learn, their
attitudes to further study and the foundation
skills they use later in life. This article does not challenge these assumptions. Instead we argue that the current labour market conventions for teachers have not encouraged some of the most sought-after graduates to enter or remain in teaching.