THE Government has said there has been a surge of interest in our region in young people joining the profession.

The Teaching Agency, the Government body responsible for recruiting new teachers, said it has seen an increase in the number of inquiries from the North-East region from people interested in pursuing a career in teaching.

A spokeswoman for the agency said: "We have had over a thousand calls to our teachers hotline from the North-East since September."

Matt Massey, who teaches history at the Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy, says he is doing his dream job.

Matt, who has a degreee in history from Manchester University and did his teaching training at Newcastle University, would advise any North-East graduate to seriously consider a career in teaching.

For Matt, teaching is what he has wanted to do since he was a schoolboy, having been taught by what he describes as a highly motivational history teacher.

Passionate about the job, Matt has seen rapid promotion in just six years in the profession.

As subject leader for history and politics he also trains other teachers as a teaching coach, to gain new skills and develop teaching strategies.

Matt hopes to pass on his passion for learning and enrich the lives of his students by providing them with insightful knowledge of historical developments and a context for the society we live in.

He aims to challenge his students to succeed and according to Matt, the sense of pride and reward he feels when they do cannot be replicated in any other job.

Matt also recognises the importance of the pastoral aspect of education, maintaining how gratifying it is to help students who experience difficulties in their personal lives.

One particular highlight of Matt's job is to witness students do something outside of the ordinary - the school organises history trips to Berlin and Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and students have also been to Washington and New York in the past. These trips support students to develop and mature and give them the opportunity to visit places of historical significance which they may not otherwise have been able to. "Teaching has always been my dream career and having a fantastic and motivating history teacher at school made my decision to go into teaching that bit easier. It's a profession which gives me the opportunity to deal with history on a daily basis, a subject which I'm very passionate about.

"Teaching history is a great way of providing students with an awareness of historical developments and their impact on society today. There's so much variety in history and it helps students to develop analytical skills and to form their own opinions.

"I am very happy with the career progress and training opportunities available. My school offers a great training programme, where experienced teachers can pass on their knowledge to their colleagues. I've progressed very quickly in my career; I was promoted to assistant head of history after only two years and permanent assistant head after only four years. I've recently been promoted to subject leader and was also given the opportunity to train other teachers."

"Although teaching is a challenging profession, it is full of rewards, and my aim as a history teacher is to enrich the lives of my students, by passing on my passion for learning and history."

There are several ways to apply to become a teacher, including a new option - School Direct - which provides a potential job offer at the school where you train. New numeracy and literacy skills tests have been introduced and need to be taken before teacher training starts. Graduates interested in a career in teaching should visit education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching or call the Teaching Line on 0800 389 2500.