Teacher training bursaries are cost effective at increasing
teacher supply, according to a new NFER report.
Increasing bursaries to boost teacher numbers is particularly
cost effective where bursaries for a subject are currently low.
However, the research also suggests that current high bursaries
for shortage subjects, such as physics, are also effective and
should be retained.
Findings from the report, funded by the Gatsby Charitable
Foundation, support previous research showing bursary increases
are associated with increases in recruitment into initial teacher
training (ITT). The research also finds that teachers who enter
the profession due to bursary increases have a sustained impact
on long-term supply as they are just as likely to stay in
teaching.
The analysis suggests additional spending on bursaries (including
the extra indirect costs such as teacher training costs) in
shortage subjects would have a positive impact on overall teacher
supply. The impact would be similar to a same-cost increase in
early career payments and greater than a same-cost increase in
teacher pay.
The research shows that currently a starting cohort of 100
teacher trainees will translate, through attrition, into 41
teachers that stay beyond their fifth year in teaching (averaged
across subjects/ phases). However, a £5,000 bursary increase,
with all else being equal, leads to 47 teachers staying beyond
their fifth year in teaching.
Bursaries are also identified as being an effective policy tool
for addressing national teacher shortages and the associated
staffing challenges in the most affected schools. This is due to
additional teachers being more likely to teach in schools that
tend to struggle most with filling vacancies, such as schools in
London and those serving disadvantaged communities.
Jack Worth, School Workforce Lead at NFER and co-author
of the report, said:
“Our evidence shows bursary spending offers good value for money
because it can be targeted at priority subjects and at
prospective teachers, whose behaviour tends to be highly
responsive to financial incentives.
“The findings show bursaries are one of a range
of effective financial tools available to policymakers to tackle
recruitment and retention issues. The current severe shortage of
teachers across many subject areas and tight public finances
means that cost effective policy measures are needed to support
the teacher pipeline wherever possible.”
Jenni French, Head of STEM in Schools, Gatsby Charitable
Foundation, said:
“We welcome this report which adds valuable insight to our
ongoing programme exploring how pay and other financial
incentives can support teacher recruitment and retention. The
evidence from this research shows that bursaries not only attract
trainee teachers onto courses, but also into the classrooms where
they are most needed, and, importantly, where they are as likely
to stay as teachers who did not receive bursaries.
“Gatsby fully supports these recommendations to the Government
to, on one hand, maintain high bursaries for subjects such as
physics, maths and computer science and, on the other, to raise
bursaries for other subjects to increase supply.”
The research makes the following policy
recommendations:
- The Government should keep training bursaries in place to
ensure ITT recruitment is supported to be higher than it
otherwise would be.
- The Government should continue raising bursaries for subjects
experiencing supply challenges and where bursaries are low.
Increasing bursaries where there is a small or no existing
bursary is more cost effective than when the existing bursary is
already at a high level.
- The Government should maintain high bursaries for maths,
physics, chemistry and computing, raising them over time with the
level of the teaching starting salary. However, to further boost
teacher supply the Government should redesign the ‘levelling up
premium’ early career payments for shortage subjects by widening
eligibility for teachers working in all schools nationally and
increasing payment generosity to enhance its impact.
