How does the Minister intend to attract more into the teaching profession?
We want teaching to be a first choice profession and continue to focus on attracting the very best people with the right skills and personal qualities to consider teaching as a career. Initial teacher education has a key role in
raising the standard of education and educational attainment in our schools, to offer our future teachers and leaders the skills, knowledge and appetite to lead the change that will be required. The aim of the revised criteria is to improve the quality and consistency of Initial Teacher Education provision and introduce a new improved and collaborative approach.
Financial incentives to attract graduates with the highest levels of subject knowledge into postgraduate Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes have been available for some time. In recent years the Welsh Government has targeted financial support toward attracting top graduates with high levels of degree subject knowledge in the secondary designated priority recruitment subjects of mathematics, chemistry, physics, Welsh, foreign languages and computer sciences. For academic year 2016/17, up to £20,000 is available for top postgraduate students who want to train to teach the key recruitment priority subjects in our schools. Eligible Welsh students will also be entitled to a tuition fee grant to support their studies.
Additional financial incentives of £2,000 are available under the Welsh Medium Improvement Scheme for secondary postgraduate chemistry and physics ITE trainees training to teach through the medium of Welsh, who need extra support to teach their specialist subject effectively in Welsh.