Teachers: Languages

(asked on 14th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the £15,000 tax-free bursary on the number of new modern foreign language teachers.


Answered by
Robin Walker Portrait
Robin Walker
This question was answered on 24th January 2022

The bursaries the department offers for initial teacher training (ITT) are intended to incentivise applications to ITT courses. The department reviews the bursaries on offer each year to take account of several factors, including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions and teacher supply need in each subject. This provides flexibility to respond to the need to attract new teachers, and means the department is spending money where it is needed most.

To support the recruitment of modern-foreign language (MFL) teachers, the department has increased the languages bursary to £15,000 for the 2022/23 academic year. This is to incentivise candidates to train to teach MFL as the department recognises that recruiting languages trainees will remain challenging. The department will review the need for financial incentives across all subjects before announcing the bursaries for the 2023/24 academic year.

All MFL trainee teachers on tuition fee-funded ITT routes are also able to apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional student finance is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.

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