Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the relationship between (1) the level of initial teacher training bursaries, and (2) targets for teacher numbers, for each subject area; and what criteria are used to assess those targets.

​​Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are offered to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. Therefore, they are reviewed annually to take account of the need for trainee teachers by subject. Recruitment against the postgraduate ITT targets set by the Teacher Workforce Model is one factor that influences the level of bursaries, but we also take account of the impact of the economy and graduate labour market on ITT recruitment.

​The Teacher Workforce Model is a national, stocks and flows model covering all state-funded primary and secondary schools, academies, and free schools in England. The model estimates the number of qualified teachers required for both primary and each secondary subject; and by considering the number of teachers that will leave or enter service in future, estimates the postgraduate ITT targets needed to supply sufficient teachers. The ITT Census is published in December each year to provide the numbers and characteristics of new entrants to ITT, and compares recruitment against the postgraduate ITT targets.