Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the regional distribution of ineligible applicants for teacher training bursaries based on degree classification; and how many ineligible applicants there were in Wiltshire in each of the last five years.

Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are designed to incentivise more applications to ITT courses from high-achieving graduates. As such, for postgraduate bursaries, we take account of the grade of the trainee’s highest academic qualification. These bursaries are only awarded to trainees with at least a 2:2 undergraduate degree classification, unless the trainee possesses a higher academic qualification, such as a doctoral or master’s degree.

Graduates who do not hold a 2:2 degree can apply for student finance in the form of a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the childcare grant.

Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses are designed to provide candidates for ITT with the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject. Completion of a SKE course is not a requirement for all ITT candidates. The ITT provider determines whether it is requirement of the candidate’s offer after assessing their prior subject knowledge. Completion of SKE is not a factor in postgraduate ITT bursary eligibility.

ITT providers determine whether their trainees are eligible for a bursary, using the eligibility criteria set by the department. The department only holds data on trainees who are eligible for bursaries, alongside data on the overall number of trainees by subject and ITT provider. The department does not hold data on why trainees were ineligible for a bursary.