Up to £123 million ‘wasted’ on teacher training bursaries
Analysis has revealed that up to £123 million has been spent on bursaries for trainee teachers who did not go on to work in state schools. It was found that over 11,000 trainees who qualified between 2010/11 and 2015/16 were not working in state schools by November 2017. It is thought that those trainees received up to £123 million in tax free bursaries.
The latest figures on these costs have not been released as the Department for Education’s Teachers Analysis Compendium 5 which was due to be published in November, was cancelled. The DfE has published four versions of the Teachers Analysis Compendium, but has now said that it will not replicate the analysis.
Trainee teachers are eligible for bursaries of up to £26,000 in certain subjects. Dr Mary Bousted, joint General Secretary of the NEU teaching union, said ‘They do want to be teachers…They experience the stress and pressure in schools; they look around them; they look at their colleagues who quite often look exhausted and are often very stressed; and then they say: ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’”
This information comes after discussions at Schools North East’s Policy Roundtable event in February highlighted that financial incentives for teacher recruitment such as bursaries are negatively affecting teacher retention and are not effective in attracting the right graduates to the profession.
Director of Schools North East Chris Zarraga said ‘There is a very strong sense that these bursaries provide the wrong incentive for those looking to get into teaching. Furthermore many newly qualified teachers are entering the profession to be faced with long hours, an excessive workload and high stakes accountability, all factors which make the profession unattractive and cause new teachers to leave or prevent them from progressing.’
Schools North East will continue conversations into how we can best attract and retain new teachers as part of our Manifesto for North East Education.