£35,000 bursaries to woo new teachers

ASPIRING maths, chemistry, physics and modern language teachers are to get up to £35,000 in bursary packages.

They will receive staggered payments during training and their early careers in addition to proposed starting salaries of at least £30,000, the Government said yesterday.

Ministers have committed more than £250million to encourage talented university leavers to enter teaching.

The cash incentive is meant to make the profession among the most competitive in the graduate job market. It is hoped the move will attract the brightest degree-holders for subjects in which recruitment is slow, and who might be tempted by high-paying jobs in consultancy, law and accountancy.

The extended bursaries are also designed to keep new teachers in the classroom amid retention problems across state schools.

The Department for Education introduced lower maths bursaries last year.

It is now expanding the scheme to chemistry, physics and modern foreign languages and increasing the payments. From next September, trainee teachers in these four subjects who have a 2.2 degree or higher will receive £26,000 during training.

An additional £6,000 will be paid across the first four years of their career – rising to £9,000 for those working in parts of the country with the highest need for teachers amid recruitment challenges.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: ‘I want the brightest and best talent to be drawn to teaching and for schools to compete with the biggest employers.’