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Financial Support
With a range of funding and practical support available, initial teacher trainees are well supported to enter the teaching profession.
Bursaries and Scholarships
You may be eligible for a bursary or scholarship when training to teach. These are tax-free amounts of money you receive to train in some subjects. Unlike a student loan, you do not need to pay this back.
- Your bursary or scholarship will be paid in a minimum of 10 equal monthly instalments from October to July.
- You must be eligible for student finance to receive a bursary or scholarship (unless you’re training to teach physics or languages).
- You cannot receive both a teaching bursary and a scholarship.
- You cannot receive a scholarship or bursary if your teacher training course is salaried.
If your course combines two subjects (for example, English and history), at least 50% of your course content must be made up of the bursary subject to be considered eligible.
You will also need to meet the bursary scheme’s individual terms and conditions.
You do not need to apply for a bursary. If you’re eligible, you’ll automatically receive it.
- a master’s degree
- a PhD
To be eligible for a bursary, you need at least one of the following:
a bachelor’s degree class 2:2 (honours) or higher
To be eligible for a scholarship, you will need at least one of the following:
- a bachelor’s degree class 2:1 (honours) or higher
- a master’s degree
- a PhD
In exceptional circumstances, if you achieved a 2:2 in your degree and have significant relevant experience, you may still be awarded a scholarship.
Scholarships are provided by charitable organisations with a passion for their subject area. They set their own eligibility criteria and application deadlines.
Student loans
Financial support may be available to help you train to teach. You can apply for:
- a tuition fee loan of up to £9,535 to cover your teacher training, so you do not need to pay course fees upfront. (Overseas applicants will need to speak to Student Finance England about their options)
- a maintenance loan to help with living costs.
You can still apply for a tuition fee and a means-tested maintenance loan if you already have a student loan, and regardless of whether you get a teaching bursary or scholarship.
You will only have to make loan repayments once you are earning over a certain amount.
Further information is available at Student finance (www.gov.uk)
Extra Help
Additionally, SFE directs trainees to other forms of financial help that they may qualify for: Student finance for undergraduates: Extra help - GOV.UK
In addition to the nationally available financial support, Exchange Teacher Training offers a range of programmes to remove barriers to teacher training for our trainees.
Exchange Teacher Training recognises and values that trainees are willing to travel beyond their locality to access expert training and valuable networking opportunities. As such, we invest in a discretionary travel compensation scheme is to support our trainees who do not receive a salary, training bursary or scholarship with the financial costs of travel beyond their region.
Eligible trainees will be invited to apply for this as part of their enrolment to Exchange Teacher Training.
Exchange Teacher Training offers a bespoke workwear allowance to trainees who do not receive a salary, training bursary or scholarship to support with the cost of purchasing clothing appropriate to their role as a trainee teacher at the start of the programme.
Eligible trainees will be invited to submit their expenses during the first two weeks of the programme.
As part of our commitment to supporting all trainees, a Hardship Fund is available by application to provide additional financial help towards the costs of training to be a teacher. It is open to all trainees facing financial difficulty via a criterion-based application process.