Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2024 to Question 17304 on Teachers: Veterans, how many people applied for the undergraduate veteran teaching bursary in the academic years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24; and what steps he is taking to increase the number of undergraduate veteran teachers.

Initial teacher training (ITT) providers are responsible for the management and administration of bursary payments, including assessment of eligibility. Trainees do not need to apply for a bursary and will automatically receive this from their ITT provider if eligible.

The undergraduate veteran teaching bursary is paid over the final two years of the course, with £20,000 payable in each year. In the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years, five individual trainees received the undergraduate veteran teaching bursary, three of whom received a bursary in both years. Figures may be subject to change due to ongoing data collection and assurance.

The department supports veterans into teaching in primary, secondary, and further education through its broad support services and bursaries. Since the publication of its commitments in the ‘Veterans Strategy Action Plan 2022 to 2024’, the department has tailored support and communications for the veteran community including dedicated teacher training advisers, webpages, case study blogs on the ‘Get Into Teaching’ website and information in Civvy Street publications. More information from Get Into Teaching is available here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-and-support/if-youre-a-veteran and here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/blog/from-the-army-to-teacher-training. More information from Civvy Street can be found here: https://civvystreetmagazine.co.uk/2023/05/bring-your-unique-perspective-to-the-classroom-get-into-teaching-2/.

Also available are bespoke webinars, and the opportunity to attend regional employer fairs with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) and British Forces Resettlement Service (BFRS). More information about the CTP can be found here: https://www.ctp.org.uk/job-finding/directory/get-into-teaching. More information about the BFRS can be found here: https://www.bfrss.org.uk/profiles/companies/986419/.