£26k FE teaching bursaries announced in £24m package

Support for new Maths, Science and English teachers announced in £24m support package for further education. 

The government has announced a support package for training FE staff that includes tax-free bursaries worth up to £26,000 for teachers.

Eligible shortage subjects include maths, sciences, engineering, manufacturing, computing and English, with funding also available for teachers training to teach learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in 2020-21. A total of £11 million is being made available in grants and bursaries.

FE bursaries

According to the Department for Education, the value of the bursaries will be matched with those offered upfront for teacher training in schools, where available – and so a Maths, Science, Engineering and Manufacturing or Computing bursary will be worth £26,000. Meanwhile, an English bursary will attract £12,000, and a bursary for a teacher of learners with SEND will be worth £15,000.

The government's support package also includes grants to FE providers for trainees who are training in-service, so undertaking paid teaching employment at the same time as training, in high-priority shortage subjects in the FE sector in England.

Eligible subjects for this scheme include Maths, English and those teaching learners with SEND. The grants, worth £18,200, will help provide trainees with a specified teaching qualification at level 5 or above, remission from teaching time and additional support such as mentoring.

The package, worth £24 million in total, also includes £10 million to expand the government’s Taking Teaching Further programme – which allows industry professionals working in sectors such as engineering and computing to retrain as further education teachers – to a further 550 people, and £3 million for high-quality mentor training programmes, designed and delivered by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

Find out more here - https://www.tes.com/news/ps26k-fe-teaching-bursaries-announced-ps24m-package