Cash attracts recruits to teaching

The training salary was designed to improve teacher recruitment

The offer of a training salary for student teachers has prompted a sharp increase in applications for the profession.

Since the introduction in March of a £6,000 incentive for student teachers beginning training this autumn, there has been a 32% rise in applications.

The Teacher Training Agency says that since the offer launched there have been 4,500 applications for the one-year postgraduate teacher training courses.

There has also been a large response to the advertising campaign promoting teaching, the agency reports, with 10,000 calls a week to a telephone information line.

Estelle Morris says the incentives will help improve the quality of student teachers

The training salary was introduced in an attempt to tackle a shortage of teachers and to make the career more attractive to higher-quality graduates.

In a buoyant employment market, there had been concerns that graduates were rejecting the extra year needed to train for teaching and wanted to begin earning a salary as soon as possible.

The School Standards Minister, Estelle Morris, attributed the rise to the government's recruitment package.

"It is a radical package, designed to solve a serious problem, and with funding to match - £70 million of new money in the first year. It will improve the number of applications and the quality of the teaching force in the coming years.

"I am particularly encouraged by the number of applications for the shortage subjects of maths, science, modern languages and technology."