Full-time Certificate in Education students training to teach non-degree craft subjects will be included in a salaries pilot, alongside postgraduate trainee teachers for the 16-plus sector.

Training salaries were first announced in March 2000 but were originally only given to PGCE secondary-school trainees. They were later extended to primary students.

Malcolm Wicks, lifelong learning minister, said the salaries offer had led to a 24 per cent increase in the number of people applying to teach in primary and secondary schools.

“It is vital that there is a larger pool of teachers in the FE sector as well. Training salaries in FE will boost the number of skilled teachers coming into our colleges. They will enale people with industrial or commercial experience and skills to draw a salary as they learn to become FE teachers - fostering a critical transfer of staff between the world of work and further education colleges.

“They also demonstrate our genuine commitment to raising the standards and status of teaching in FE.”

Mr Wicks added: “It is particularly important to recognise the valuable contribution this extension of pound;6,000 training salaries will make in the new post-16 landscape being shaped by the new Learning and Skills Council. We want to lay firm foundations for lifelong learning in the UK - through work and at home.

“Training salaries provide an added incentive to those seeking a rewarding vocation. But the biggest difference will be to the many young people and adults using education to improve their life chances.”