New Teaching Degree Apprenticeship (TDA) will launch this autumn

A new teaching apprenticeship will launch this autumn revolutionising the way schools recruit teachers while supporting more people to earn while they study for a degree. The Teacher Degree Apprenticeship is a four-year training programme and will be available for people to train as primary or secondary teachers. It will build on the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship (PGTA) by offering a work-based route to attaining degree and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

To support schools to offer the new apprenticeship, the government will launch a pilot scheme working with a small number of schools and teacher training providers to fund up to 150 apprentices to work in secondary schools to teach maths. Training providers will bid to partake in the pilot and trainees will be recruited from this autumn and start their training the following year.

The Teacher Degree Apprenticeship grant funding pilot will be a one-cohort pilot and evidence will be used to inform the future of the programme. Providers and employing schools will be able to develop and run Teacher Degree Apprenticeship courses without additional funding within the same timeframes as the pilot.

• New Teacher Degree Apprenticeship (TDA) will support schools to recruit and retain the excellent teachers they need in vital subjects including maths
• Apprentices will earn while they learn the skills they need to become qualified teachers, getting experience in the classroom from day one
• New apprenticeship will be transformative, offering people who might not want to follow a traditional university route, an alternative, high-quality way into teaching

A new teaching apprenticeship will launch this autumn revolutionising the way schools recruit teachers while supporting more people to earn while they study for a degree.

The Teacher Degree Apprenticeship will offer a high-quality, alternative route for people to become qualified teachers. This includes people who may not be able to take time out to study full-time for a degree such as teaching assistants or staff already working in schools, to access this route to a rewarding profession. 

Trainees on the new Teacher Degree Apprenticeship will spend around 40 per cent of their time studying for their degree with an accredited teacher training provider, gain Qualified Teacher Status and all tuition fees are paid for, so trainees won’t be saddled with the student debt.

The announcement coincides with National Apprenticeship Week. Apprenticeships are a brilliant way for people of all ages and backgrounds to build successful careers in a huge range of professions from nursing to medical doctors and space engineering to fusion technology, with opportunities available at all levels up to a degree level.

Since 2010, over 5.7 million people have started their apprenticeship journey and the government is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25

Since 2010, over 5.7 million people have started their apprenticeship journey and the government is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, ensuring businesses have a pipeline of talent to grow the economy.

Apprenticeships are a cornerstone of the government’s plans to provide people with an excellent route into some of the best careers and contributing to a high-skill, high-productivity economy.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, said:

“The teacher degree apprenticeship will open up the profession to more people, from those who want a career change to those who are looking for an earn and learn route without student debt.

“It will be a game-changing opportunity for schools to nurture and retain talent from the ground up, helping apprentices to gain the knowledge and skills they need to teach future generations.”

The government is investing £196 million this academic year to attract more teachers

There are record numbers of teachers working in schools – up by 27,000 since 2010. To attract the brightest and the best teachers, the government is investing £196 million this academic year to get more teachers across key subjects.

The TDA will provide a new route for teaching assistants who do not have an existing degree to train to become a teacher

The TDA will build on this by diversifying the route into teaching and ensuring schools across the country can continue to recruit the teachers they need so young people have access to the top teaching talent they need to succeed. There are almost 400,000 individual teaching assistants in state funded schools in England. The TDA will provide a new route for teaching assistants who do not have an existing degree to train to become a teacher and continue their career progression in the classroom.

The latest figures show an 11% increase in the number of young people starting their apprenticeship journey

By the end of 2022 almost 90 per cent of 16-17 year olds were in education or apprenticeships. The latest figures show an 11% increase in the number of young people starting their apprenticeship journey compared to the same point last year, with young people continuing to make up over half of all apprenticeship starts.

As the government prepares to introduce the new Advanced British Standard, which will see all young people study some form of English and maths to the age of 18, it will be more important than ever for schools to attract and retain teachers in these vital subjects.

New Pilot Programme for 150 TDA Apprentices for Secondary Schools to teach Maths

To support schools to offer the new apprenticeship, the government will launch a pilot scheme working with a small number of schools and teacher training providers to fund up to 150 apprentices to work in secondary schools to teach maths. Training providers will bid to partake in the pilot and trainees will be recruited from this autumn and start their training the following year.

Degree level apprenticeships have grown in popularity in recent years with a wide range of opportunities already available including construction, accounting and law.

The Department for Education and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) are working with an employer-led trailblazer group to develop the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship to ensure it is high quality and meets the needs of schools.

The South Farnham Educational Trust, the chairs of the trailblazer group, said:

“The TDA presents an ideal opportunity for talented professionals without a degree to pursue their dream of teaching. 

“The opportunity to gain QTS and a degree through the new TDA would enable our Trust to invest in talented individuals early in their career and grow them into outstanding teachers of the future.

“The TDA allows individuals to earn a salary while completing their teacher training, supporting those who may not have the financial means to pursue a traditional university-based teacher training programme.”

The Stoke and Staffordshire Teacher Education Collective, together with Staffordshire University, said:

“This new route to qualification will offer a potentially powerful combination of reflective and on the job learning within and for our local communities.

“It will enable us to widen opportunities for people committed to the transformative role that education plays in society.”

Jennifer Coupland, chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), said:

“Having this alternative quality route into teaching should make a big difference with encouraging people from wider backgrounds into the profession, helping with social mobility and making sure schools get all the talented teachers they need.

“I think it’s also really important that this will provide extra support for brilliant teaching assistants and other people working in schools, who want to be teachers, to make that next step.”

Teacher Degree Apprenticeship is a four-year training programme

The Teacher Degree Apprenticeship is a four-year training programme and will be available for people to train as primary or secondary teachers. It will build on the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship (PGTA) by offering a work-based route to attaining degree and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

The Teacher Degree Apprenticeship grant funding pilot will be a one-cohort pilot and evidence will be used to inform the future of the programme. Providers and employing schools will be able to develop and run Teacher Degree Apprenticeship courses without additional funding within the same timeframes as the pilot.

Sector Reaction to the TDA Announcement

Teach First CEO Russell Hobby said:

“We welcome plans for the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship (TDA) and the launch of a funding pilot for the secondary mathematics TDA.

“Teacher Degree Apprenticeships need to be academically rigorous, provide an open-access route for gifted people to inspire the next generation and be funded and accessible to schools. We are particularly excited at the prospect of helping talented support staff already in schools convert into teaching roles.

“With teacher shortages biting hard across the country, we desperately need more great educators in schools, especially in low-income areas. Teacher Degree Apprenticeships, alongside existing routes and in combination with other measures, will help get talented teachers into the schools that need them most.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“The recruitment and retention crisis in education is clear for all to see, and there is no escaping the fact that it is already having an impact on schools and pupils. While we want to encourage as many people as possible into teaching, we need to take great care to ensure that we maintain our expectations when it comes to training and qualifications.

“NAHT is supportive of apprenticeships, but our view is that the threshold for entry onto teacher training should continue to include holding a degree. We remain very concerned about any proposals that look to truncate degrees and teacher training, as this scheme does.”

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“We think this is a good idea in principle, but it is unlikely that teacher degree apprenticeships will provide anywhere near the number of qualified teachers required to solve the recruitment and retention crisis. The plan to run a pilot scheme is a sensible first step as delivering these apprenticeships will be a complex undertaking for schools and it will be important to understand how they will work in practice and the resources and time required. We are concerned about how realistic this will be in reality for many schools given the number of competing demands on them and the lack of sufficient staffing and funding in the education system.

“In any event, it will take a long time before degree apprenticeships make any impact at all on the recruitment and retention crisis being experienced by schools and colleges right now, and we think it is likely that the system will continue to rely on the traditional postgraduate training routes for the foreseeable future.

“The problem is that this supply line is broken with only half of the required number of secondary school teachers being recruited into postgraduate training this academic year and targets having been missed for most of the past 10 years. The only real answer to this is an improvement to teaching salaries to make them more competitive in the graduate market and more action to tackle the systemic pressures which drive people out of the profession such as high levels of workload and stress.

“We have said all of this repeatedly to the government, but it is has simply failed to respond with the resolve that is required.”

Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union – said:

“This Government has had almost fourteen years to resolve the teacher recruitment crisis. Instead, under their watch, fewer graduates are entering the profession and the numbers of new teachers quitting have grown to critical levels.

“Increasing recruitment into the profession must be a priority, but the Government is still failing to take the action needed to not only recruit but also to retain teachers in the job.

“Whatever the route into teaching, parents have a right to expect that their child’s teacher is highly qualified and has the requisite training and skills to do the job.

“The Government’s previous decision to remove the requirement for schools to employ teachers with Qualified Teacher Status – which remains a major stain on their record in office – continues to undermine the status and morale of the profession. We will be looking for clarity from the Government on how the proposals announced today will contribute to fixing these problems.

“At a time of significant pressures on school budgets and when the workload of senior and middle leaders in schools is also stretched, we need to have greater clarity on how schools will be adequately funded and supported to deliver the robust and high quality training that will be required.

“After fourteen years of Government neglect, schools deserves better than a sticking plaster policy which offers no remedy to the underlying causes of today’s teacher supply crisis.

“There is a mountain of evidence which concludes that the teacher recruitment and retention crisis is being driven by excessive workload, working hours and low pay which the Government has failed to fix.

“Today’s announcement looks like another stab in the dark from a Government that appears increasingly out of touch with the realities facing the teaching profession.”

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:   

“The teaching apprenticeship programme is an acknowledgement of the crisis in teacher recruitment but is the wrong way to address it. 

“The NEU wants to see more teachers in schools as an absolute priority, but it is essential that professional standards are maintained, and that new entrants to the profession are fully qualified before they embark on the early career stage of their practice. The apprenticeship scheme puts those standards at risk, placing underqualified and inexperienced teachers into classrooms. It is not fair on pupils or apprentice teachers. 

“Without much more detail it is impossible to see how this scheme will work in practice: how already overstretched schools will manage the pressure on training resources and timetables – and how the pay structure for apprentice teachers will work in a way that will not cause confusion and, potentially, a sense of unfairness among established teaching staff. 

“Apprenticeships give people a chance to build skills and careers, and are a vital part of our education system, but this is not the way to go about meeting the challenges of recruitment into teaching. Teachers should be graduates. However low pay, high workload and oppressive accountability measures mean that graduates are not willing to enter schools – and of those that do, many more than are currently being replaced are leaving after a few years. 

“The fanfare around this announcement is a noisy distraction – a wilful refusal to see the problems that are obvious, and to deliver the reforms that are needed to get the teachers we desperately need back into the profession.”