Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if department will reintroduce the PGCE student bursary for current PGCE students.

The bursaries the Department offers for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) are intended to incentivise applications to ITT courses. The Department reviews the bursaries each year to take account of 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.

For those starting ITT in the 2023/24 academic year, the Department is offering a £27,000 tax-free bursary in chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics. Prestigious scholarships worth £29,000 tax-free will be offered in chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics. A languages scholarship worth £27,000 tax-free will be available in French, German and Spanish. The Department is also offering a £25,000 tax-free bursary for geography and languages, including ancient languages, a £20,000 tax-free bursary for biology and design & technology and a £15,000 tax-free bursary for English.

Schools offering the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship or School Direct (salaried) routes will continue to be able to access funding equivalent to the bursary amount.