Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage unqualified teachers to access teacher training.

There are several salaried routes into initial teacher training (ITT), including School Direct Salaried and Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeships. By the end of their course, trainees must be able to demonstrate the same teachers’ standards as on any other ITT course, but trainees progress towards qualified teacher status (QTS) while employed in a school and receiving a salary.

Unqualified teachers can also apply to a fee-funded ITT course, where they can benefit from our generous bursaries worth up to £26,000 across a range of subjects.

In addition, those with significant experience of teaching can be assessed by an accredited provider, and achieve QTS, without having to undergo formal training on an ITT course.

Information on salaried teacher training can be found here:

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes/school-led-training/school-direct-salaried.

Information on bursaries and scholarships can be found here:

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-my-teacher-training/bursaries-and-scholarships-for-teacher-training.

Information on gaining QTS with only an assessment can be found here:

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes/specialist-training-options/assessment-only.