Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Accepted
Paragraph: 72
Review 'golden handcuffs' option and commission research on improving teacher retention.
Recommendation
Though concern remains about the retention of teachers in receipt of bursary funding. Evidence tells us that the current structure of bursaries offers sufficient value for money in terms of recruitment and retention, given that retention rates are similar for those who do and do not receive Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries. We recommend the Government keep the option of ‘golden handcuffs’ under review and commissions further research on how retention can be improved.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government is offering a Targeted Retention Incentive of up to £6,000 for specific subject teachers in disadvantaged schools. They committed to keeping eligibility criteria under review and are conducting full evaluations to assess any postponement effects.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
72
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The Department currently offers bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £31,000 tax-free for school ITT courses. We review bursaries each year before announcing the offer for those starting ITT the following academic year. In doing so, we take account of a number of factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject as determined by the Teacher Workforce Model. We offer the highest bursaries in STEM subjects where there are persistent shortages and graduates have the highest earning potential outside teaching. In recent years, we have also increased the languages bursary, and reintroduced lower bursaries in subjects such as art & design, music and RE. As we have a limited budget, we need to prioritise when deciding the bursaries on offer. The School Teacher Recruitment marketing campaign aims to attract and inspire people to consider a career in teaching, through showcasing the wide range of benefits that it offers. The campaign balances the need to present the wider profession through broadcast channels whilst using highly targeted channels to promote bursaries for shortage subjects. Furthermore, we have continued to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas. For the 2024/25 academic year, training bursaries are worth up to £30,000 each, tax free (further information about schemes for future years will be available in due course). For FE, 2024/25 academic year bursaries are in defined subject areas (English, SEND, mathematics, science, engineering and/or manufacturing, computing), for trainees who meet eligibility criteria based on their relevant qualifications or professional experience, and their intention to teach a designated priority subject in the FE sector. The bursary amount varies according to the subject in which they train to teach.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗