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Teacher training bursaries are a cost-effective way to boost teacher supply, and increasing them would have a bigger impact than raising pay, a new analysis has suggested.

The also found that those recruited off the back of bursaries were more likely to teach in schools which often struggle to fill vacancies.

Postgraduate trainees in shortage subjects are eligible to claim tax-free bursaries ranging from 拢10,000 in subjects including English and art to 拢28,000 in chemistry, computing, maths and physics.

Researchers examined the potential impact of spending more on different incentives on a hypothetical cohort of 100 teachers.

They found that, based on current bursaries, 66 of 100 entrants into the profession would go on to work in the state sector, and 41 of those would remain there after five years.

Introducing a 拢5,000 bursary in a subject without one would mean 115 teachers entered the profession, 75 went on to work in the state sector and 47 would remain beyond five years.

These additional teachers are 鈥渁lso more likely to teach in schools that tend to struggle most with filling vacancies, such as schools in London and schools serving disadvantaged communities鈥�.

‘An effective policy tool’

Bursaries are 鈥渢herefore an effective policy tool for addressing national teacher shortages and the associated staffing challenges in the most affected schools鈥�.

The government has faced criticism in recent years for a reduction in bursaries when there was a shortlived increase in teacher recruitment during the pandemic.

The DfE went on to miss its secondary recruitment target by around 40 per cent last year, and is expected to miss it by more this year.

The NFER report found that bursary increases 鈥渁re not strongly associated with progression and retention鈥�, but this still means that teachers who signed up because of a bursary 鈥渨ould be just as likely as teachers recruited without a bursary in place to enter and stay in teaching鈥�.

This implies 鈥渢hat increasing bursaries leads to a larger cohort of teachers in the long term鈥�.

However, the research also compared the impact of bursaries with that of early-career retention payments for teachers.

It found both bursaries and ECPs 鈥渓ead to similar numbers of additional teachers in teaching, for the same cost鈥�. But early-career payments 鈥渓ead to a slightly greater number of teachers staying after their fifth year compared to bursaries鈥�.

However, the profile of the additional teacher supply 鈥渧aries through the career pipeline, with the data suggesting that bursaries lead to more teachers entering teaching and being in the classroom in their first few years, whereas early career payments lead to more classroom teachers over the longer term鈥�.

Increasing pay has ‘lowest overall impact’

The analysis suggests an extra 拢100 million spent on bursaries in shortage subjects 鈥渨ould have a similar impact on overall teacher supply compared to same-cost increases in early career payments and pay increases targeted at early career teachers or secondary teachers鈥�.

However, increasing pay at a flat rate across all pay points 鈥渉as the lowest overall impact鈥�.

This is because a 鈥渇lat pay increase boosts primary teacher supply, which is already at the target, and a large proportion of the pay increase is for experienced teachers, who tend to be less responsive to pay changes鈥�.

Jack Worth, school workforce lead at NFER and co-author of the report, said the findings showed bursaries were 鈥渙ne of a range of effective financial tools available鈥� to tackle recruitment and retention issues in the sector.

鈥淭he current severe shortage of teachers across many subject areas and tight public finances means that cost effective policy measures are needed to support the teacher pipeline wherever possible,鈥� he added.

The Education Endowment Foundation said NFER鈥檚 study 鈥渕irrored鈥� its own research, indicating that financial incentives could be 鈥渁n effective approach to solving staffing issues in our schools鈥�.

But chief executive Professor Becky Francis added that it was a 鈥渃omplex problem that is likely to require a multi-pronged solution鈥�.

Ian Hartwright, head of policy at school leaders鈥� union NAHT said ITT bursaries had 鈥渇ailed to move the dial on teacher and leadership recruitment and retention over the last decade鈥�.

He called for the government to instead 鈥渃reate a compelling a sustainable career proposition that will encourage high quality graduates to commit to a decades-long career in teaching鈥�.