Government announces reintroduction of teacher training bursary for music

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced that trainee secondary school music teachers will be offered a £10,000 bursary for training courses starting between September 2024 and July 2025.

The move comes as music teacher recruitment has fallen, with the National Foundation for Educational Research estimating that just 31% of the recruitment target will be met in 2023.

The tax-free bursary will be paid in a minimum of 10 equal monthly instalments over the duration of a course by teacher training providers. Trainees can receive the bursary alongside a tuition fee and maintenance loan.

Chris Walters, National Organiser for Education, Health & Wellbeing at the Musicians’ Union, said: ‘The MU welcomes the reinstatement of this bursary, following the DfE’s belated realisation that the current number of trainee secondary music teachers is far too low. We urge the government to revisit its own National Plan for Music Education and review the other barriers that stand in the way of the plan’s delivery, including straitened school budgets and mixed messaging to schools about the importance of the arts.’

Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the ISM, said: ‘We clearly need more music teachers to deliver excellent music education to all children, in addition to the brilliant music teachers we already have. It has been clear that many more music teachers would be required to deliver the ambitions of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education. Despite the good news for secondary teachers, there is no bursary at primary level, where a lack of courses remains a point of great concern.’

In 2020, the government announced that trainee music teachers were among those who would no longer receive the £9,000 bursary for 2021/22. While the government later U-turned on its decision for some subjects, funding for Music was not reinstated.

Trainee teachers in Art & Design, English and RE will also be offered a £10,000 bursary for 2024/25, which is less than half that on offer for languages and STEM subjects.

Find out more and apply at getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-and-support