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?

[fussychica]

I'm assuming that these additional retention bonuses will only apply to those qualifying after the date of implementation. It would be sensible to do something to stop the exodus of those already trained. We shall see.