Training Bursary to M1

[rillette]

I'm doing my PGCE and am starting to look at jobs for next year. I was a TA before, on about £1200 take home pay, which was tight but I got by. At the minute I'm on a cushy tax free bursary (the biggest one going), a lot of which has been going straight into a savings account for a house deposit. I've looked into my salary (M1) for next year and it's going to be about £1000 less a month! (side note: I really do appreciate the bursary, but it's not why I went into teaching). I'm not at all moaning, I'll be very grateful to have an NQT position next year and crack on with it, but I can imagine the NQT year to be quite demoralising in financial terms - more work for less pay! What are your opinions on the training bursaries?

Encourage too many to do teacher training with no intention of staying in the job.

Cushy pay deal for a year, pay off done debts etc, then don't stay on.

Think it should be payable later on, or come with declining payback depending how long you stay in teaching.

MissMarples yes I agree with you. Actually, thinking about it, I completed a survey for the DfE recently on bursary amounts and it looks as if they want to change bursaries to be more in line with the Maths ones: i.e. £15,000 to train, then £5000 after 3 years, then £5000 after 5. I suppose it would mean the recruitment targets would be way off as they'd lose those whose hearts weren't necessarily in it, but it would be nicer to reward those still in the job rather than the whole lot for trainees!

Yep. It maybe that you are earning more than your mentor. You will certainly be earning more than many teachers in your school.

They can’t pay teachers of different subjects vastly different salaries even though they need way more maths teachers than PE teachers. So they front load it into the bursary then scratch their heads when the trainees take the money and do a runner.

It should come with an obligation to teach in the state sector for a period.

DS got the Maths bursary plus the scholarship. That was £28k tax free paid in one year (it's now staged).
He always knew he would earn less for several years once he qualified so he saved the lot and it's a nice financial start to his working life as a teacher.
It's true there were some drop outs on his course, but all who finished are still teaching.
As to more work and less pay - DS is finding the NQT year much easier than the PGCE training year (done in a school based scheme).

You earned £1200 a month as a TA before?

Encourage too many to do teacher training with no intention of staying in the job

Exactly-it’s as if the government are more worried about the recruitment stats than what is actually happening in teaching...

Do you mind me asking what (approx) you’re getting a month via the bursary?

startedearly that's really good to know, thank you. I'm doing the same savings wise. I'm finding training quite tough and the thought of a full timetable next year is daunting, although I bet the comparative freedom will be lovely.

monkeytoad it was inner London and we were paid an hour after school each day, so it was a much better deal than many TA contracts out there (if that's what you meant).

holidayshopping I get £2800 a month (though this is 10 monthly payments, not 12)

I'm in a similar position.

I personally think they should waive the fee for PGCEs in certain subjects.

It's coming up to finding a job time for me. However, there's a lot going on and I don't really have time for endless applications. I'm tempted not to apply for any jobs until June.

Frick me, I chose the wrong career.

I qualified as a doctor in 2005 and earn less than that now, plus I pay out about £2000 / year in fees, insurance and courses......

edit, just thought, if that is £2800 before tax, ignore me.

I'm tired.

it's £2800, tax free, but only for the training year, for 10 months. Next year, if I get a teaching position, it will drop by £1000/month and I'll be taxed just like any other worker.

It's bonkers that trainees get paid more than teachers with years of experience.

Hi, I am in a similar position, currently getting a £26,000 tax free bursary. I was aware already that entering on M1 would feel like a huge salary drop so currently I am saving at least £1000 a month (more if possible) towards a house deposit. I'm hoping this will make the transition less of a shock.

I have heard of people (e.g. Maths teachers) being able to negotiate entering on m2/3 in some cases. This probably does depend on being in a well funded local authority, though!

I’m a trainee too, with a £26k bursary. I have a mortgage and 2 children so the bursary is they only way I’d have been able to afford to quit my job and start training. Therefore I am very grateful for it, but also tend to not mention it to anyone (although other teachers will already know)

Blimey, I've been teaching 20+ years and I'm on UPS3 with a (very small small) tlr and only bring home, after deductions and teacher pension, about £2400 a month. Not London though.

If you are in a shortage subject you should push for entering on M2/3.
It is still ridiculous, though, yo have such high bursaries!

Also, NQTs don’t teach a full timetable yet, they get an extra 10% off.

Blimey, I've been teaching 20+ years and I'm on UPS3 with a (very small small) tlr and only bring home, after deductions and teacher pension, about £2400 a month. Not London though.

Snap-21 years in here, on top of the upper pay scale and still don’t get anywhere near that!

What do the trainees getting the bursary think about that? That in 20+ years, you still don’t stand a change of earning what you’re getting now-unless you are way up on the leadership scale?

We worked it out the other day that our geography pgce student takes home more than me as an
UPS 3 on a TLR 1a! He has no intention of doing his NQT year.

Ridiculous!

I’m geog. I was chatting about this to hwad of science in my last placement. I take home more than her!

Its the most arse forward scheme isn't it?

It's basically bribery to do teacher training. No incentives to stay though.

Another quality DofE initiative eye roll

and right on cue, DfE now seem to be following the Maths bursary model

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-47023665?fbclid=IwAR0tIetF0cJCWHDO4nGmnZ5z-aKQPKkkw0dJhyBVD3Eselp5aQXYI8wy3bc

Minsters want head teachers to push back against Ofsted if they think demands for paperwork are unreasonable.Now that more than half of secondary schools are academies, Mr Hinds has little direct control over how they organise workload.

Surely he has some control over Ofsted though? Can’t the government make changes to ofsted rather than suggesting heads rebel against them?

I like the sound of second year teachers getting more non-contact-that’s a positive. Plus job share finders (though my old head would never have use that!).

But I don’t understand this:-

Over the coming years a sizeable proportion of the money spent on bursaries to train could be shifted to incentives to keeping teachers in the profession.

Do they think they will be able to drop the bursaries soon? And spend the money on keeping older teachers?

At least the ‘spokesman for the government’ has stopped saying that there’s no problem in teaching recruitment!

NQT here. Also, out of 20 on my course last year, 18 have NQT jobs (one on supply, one doing a PhD)

I saved mine plus paid back my parents some money. Also, since I had to relocate for the PGCE and for my jobs, it’ll gone on setting me up both times. My take home pay is less this year but the gross pay is broadly similar.

All in all, it has done its job in allowing me the financial stability to start in teaching.