Academic Writing - Model Answer (Task 1)

The line graph shows how many men and women are employed in the U.K. as qualified teachers on a full-time basis at public schools from 1987 until 2008.

There were 160.000 women working at nursery and primary schools in 1981/2 and this number increased slightly to 165.000 in 2007/8. 40.000 less female teachers were employed at secondary schools in 1981/2. This figure increased gradually to around 130 thousand in 2007/8.

Full-time qualified men in nursery and primary schools stood at 40.000 in the first time period. This number was relatively stable and ended up at 39 thousand at the end of the given period. Male teachers at secondary schools stood at 160.000 and this amount fell gradually to approximately 90.000.

Nursery and primary state schools in the U.K. had more full-time qualified female teachers than male ones. Even though initially there were more men working as secondary school teachers this amount dropped and by 2007/8 there were approximately 40 million more women qualified and teaching in these schools.

Question taken from Direct to IELTS Student's Book p.110