Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of financial incentives on the recruitment and retention of teachers in schools serving disadvantaged communities.

The department offers bursaries worth up to £27,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £29,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainee teachers in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

The National Foundation for Educational Research has published independent research which corroborates the department’s analysis that a £1,000 increase in bursary value results in an approximately 3% increase in applicants on average, all other things being equal.

There is evidence that schools serving disadvantaged communities face greater teacher workforce challenges. This is why the department is also offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. This will support the retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

The Levelling Up Premium is informed by the previous maths and physics teacher retention payments pilot. A University College London evaluation of this found that teachers who received these £2,000 tax-free payments were 23% less likely to leave teaching, showing retention payments can help solve teacher shortages.