Fast-track teaching students in line for £23K bursary

Plans for new fast-track route into teaching in Scotland would see students receive bursaries equivalent to probationer teacher salary
1st February 2018, 10:48am

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Fast-track teaching students in line for £23K bursary

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/fast-track-teaching-students-line-ps23k-bursary
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The Scottish universities behind a new fast-track route into teaching aimed at those living in rural areas hope to offer bursaries worth nearly £23,000 to students taking the course.

The bursary of £22,866 is equivalent to the salary of a probationer teacher.

The proposal is contained in the bid that recently won the tender to deliver a new fast-track route for “high-quality graduates” in chemistry, physics, home economics, maths and engineering.

However, it has yet to be agreed by the Scottish government and councils, said Dr Morag Redford, head of teacher education at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). Her university last week won the bid to deliver the new course, along with the University of Dundee.

The government’s plan to create a new route, which is being introduced in response to the teacher shortage, has been controversial due to concerns that it would allow the fast-track teacher training charity Teach First to get a foothold in Scotland.

Teach First is regarded with suspicion north of the border because recruits are given responsibility for classes after an intensive summer school of just six weeks.

However, having seen off Teach First, the universities are now left with the challenge of filling spaces on a new fast-track course in secondary subjects that are notoriously difficult to recruit to.

The aim will be to recruit between 20 and 50 students. The course gets underway in December and will be open in its first year to student teachers looking to work in Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Highland and the Borders.

‘Optimism’ about attracting recruits

Dr Redford said she was “reasonably optimistic” about filling places, due to UHI’s success to date in training secondary science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) teachers.

The university started running a one-year postgraduate secondary teacher education course in 2016-17 with seven Stem teachers, and is seeking funding to train 30 in the coming academic year. UHI already has almost 70 applications for places, Redford said.

The new fast-track is being supported by £250,000 of funding from the Scottish government’s Attainment Scotland Fund - money aimed at closing the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils.

The student teachers will be placed in two schools during the course of their studies, both of which will serve disadvantaged areas.

The students will start the course in December and are expected to emerge 18 months later as fully fledged teachers, having served their probation.

For more on the new fast-track route read tomorrow’s Tes Scotland magazine.

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