The government’s teacher training bursaries are to be expanded to cover English Baccalaureate subjects, computer science, music and PE.
Until now, the training bursaries of up to £20,000 were aimed at the core subjects.
Alongside the new bursaries for computer science, universities and schools are being invited to run teacher training courses dedicated to the new subject from 2013/14.
However, funding for the current ICT courses will end “to reflect the disapplication of ICT curriculum”, the government has said.
Elsewhere, a separate chemistry teacher training scholarship scheme worth £20,000 has been unveiled in conjunction with the Royal Society of Chemistry. It will seek to award around 130 bursaries to graduates with a 2:1 degree or higher. The scheme matches the existing approach of physics scholarship with the Institute of Physics.
Schools can also now apply for teacher training places for September 2013 under the School Direct scheme. The initiative allows schools to recruit and train their own staff, who then go on to teach in the school or within a federation.
Harris City Academy Crystal Palace has been part of the pilot School Direct programme and has this month started training eight graduates as teachers in key subjects including chemistry, mathematics and French.
The application window to apply for places on School Direct closes on October 12.
The changing focus of teacher recruitment has also led to a change in government targets.
From the next school year, the Teaching Agency is to be given targets focusing on recruiting graduates with a 2:1 degree or higher in the EBacc subjects, computer science, music and PE. Previous targets were based on quantity.
Furthermore, the DfE is to benchmark itself against high-performing schools systems around the world in terms of the number of “high-quality” graduates it recruits. A statement said: “The government’s aspiration is that in five years’ time it will recruit the same quality of teachers as the best performing schools systems in the world.”
For details of the chemistry scholarships, visit www.rsc.org/scholarships and for the other bursaries, see www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching
For more on Schools Direct, visit www.education.gov.uk/schools/