By Gavin Mackintosh-
The Department Of Education spent £123 million on bursaries for more than 11,000 trainees who qualified between 2009-10 and 2015-2016 but did not work in state schools by November 2017, despite collectively receiving between £67 million and £123 million in tax-free bursaries
The British government spent a minimum of £484 million on bursaries for 101,060 postgraduate teacher trainees who were awarded QTS between 2009-10 and 2015-16, with one in ten teachers not taking up trainee positions, despite receiving bursaries.
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Out of this figure, over 10% of them, 11,460 (11 per cent) had not taught in a state-funded school by November 2017. The shocking revelation made by The Times Education Supplement publication (Tes) means that a large amount meant for teaching trainees was wasted instead of serving their purpose. The Department Of Education has disputed the figures, telling The Eye Of Media.Com that 80% of those who received bursaries went on to become teachers. No account has been given about the shortfall who received bursaries but did not go on to use it.
Tes discovered that the government spent a minimum of £484 million on bursaries for 101,060 postgraduate teacher trainees who were awarded QTS between 2009-10 and 2015-16. Of these, 11,460 (11 per cent) had not taught in a state-funded school by November 2017.
What those thousands of recipients did with the extra money is unknown, or whether there will be an investigation to discover why they did not use the money for the intended purposes.
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Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, described the figures as a “stupendous waste of money”. Some critics have said the problem lies with the British government not distributing funding more fairly . As the argument goes, teachers who are passionate and more competent but are not eligible to funding should be benefiting more from these type of bursaries instead of such huge amounts of money going to waste.
Teacher training bursaries are designed to incentivise more applicants to train in the subjects that are hardest to recruit to. Trainees only receive the bursary in full if they complete the teacher training course. A Department Of Education Spokesperson said:
“Teacher training bursaries are designed to incentivise more applicants to train in the subjects that are hardest to recruit to. Trainees only receive the bursary in full if they complete the teacher training course. 80% of those who received bursaries go on to become teachers”. The Department said the question of an investigation will be looked at but they have a massive workload
A Department of Education spokesperson said: “Teacher training bursaries are designed to incentivise more applicants to train in the subjects that are hardest to recruit to. Trainees only receive the bursary in full if they complete the teacher training course. 80% of those who received bursaries went on to become teachers”.
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