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Initial Teacher Training: what financial help can you get?

All students taking an eligible course of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) are entitled to some form of financial help. There are a number of routes to qualifying as a teacher, and the type of help you can get depends on which one you choose.

Help available to both undergraduate and postgraduate students

If you’re doing a full-time undergraduate course of ITT, you can apply for Student Loans, grants and bursaries on the same terms as other full-time students doing a first higher education course.

Part-time and postgraduate students can’t usually apply for the full finance package aimed at full-time students. But you’ll qualify for elements of it for a course of ITT – whether you’re doing it full-time or part time, or as an undergraduate or postgraduate.

Follow the link below to ‘Initial Teacher Training - Student Loans, grants and bursaries’ for details of the finance package available to both postgraduate students and most undergraduate students who started their course in or after September 2006.

• Initial Teacher Training: Student Loans, grants and bursaries

Additional support for postgraduate students

If you’re a postgraduate student, you can also apply for a training bursary from the Training and Development Agency for Schools, worth between £4,000 and £9,000. This is paid on top of the finance package available to both postgraduates and undergraduates.

Follow the link below to ‘Initial Teacher Training: additional support for postgraduates’ for more on the TDA training bursary, and information on ‘golden hellos’ - one-off bonuses available to postgraduate students who have trained to teach certain ‘priority’ subjects at secondary level, once they’ve completed their induction year.

• Initial Teacher Training: additional support for postgraduates

Started an undergraduate course before September 2006?

The package of financial help is different if you’re an undergraduate student who started your course before September 2006 – or you’re treated as if you did because, for example, you took a gap year in 2005/2006.

The main sources of finance for undergraduates who started before September 2006 are:

• Student Loan for Maintenance
• Higher Education Grant and tuition fee grant
• Student Loan for Tuition Fees

Generally these Student Loans and grants aren’t available for part-time courses - but part-time ITT courses are an exception.

Follow the link below for more details.

• Student finance after your first year: started before September 2006?

Employment-based Teacher Training Schemes

There are also three employment-based Teacher Training Schemes. If you follow one of these routes, you won’t have to pay any tuition fees.

You’ll be an employee rather than a student - so you’ll be paid a salary by your school, but you won’t be eligible for student finance, a training bursary or a ‘golden hello’.

More about Initial Teacher Training

You can find out more about the different types of ITT course on the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) website.

• Find out more about Initial Teacher Training courses (opens new window)