Bursary rollout sparks upset amongst student teachers

A bursary of £15,000 has been promised to the next cohort of PGCE trainee teachers. The bursary will be offered to all students taking the PGCE English teaching course, starting from 2023.

The decision for extra funding has sparked anger amongst the current PGCE student body who won’t be benefiting from the rollout as they say they also need the funding, facing greater living costs and rising petrol and public transport prices.

Many students this year complained, highlighting they only receive their basic maintenance loan, of around £3,500 per year, which, for most, doesn’t cover rent.

Students are dropping out of their courses in protest, either waiting for next year so they can qualify for the bursary, or leaving the education system behind altogether, pursuing a different path. This will impact this year’s cohort of student teachers graduating massively, it will be much smaller, meaning even less teachers will be moving into the workforce next year. According to TES Magazine, the amount of teachers graduating this year will be “40% below government target”.

Warwick student, Eleanor, explained the costs she is faced with, from petrol prices to paying parking fees at the schools she is training at, and how the bursary would have helped her hugely in her final year of study.

The 21 year old worries this bursary is only to encourage more young people to study to be an English teacher, in other words, to boost numbers for the next student body. This would affect the standard of teaching as many may enter the workforce with no passion to teach, or may not even take a teaching job after the training.

To find out more about the bursaries you may be eligible for, visit https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/