An official from the Department for Education has responded to Democratic Life’s letter to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove MP, regarding initial teacher training for citizenship.
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Thank you for your letter of 10 November, addressed to the Secretary of State, about initial teacher training bursaries and the teaching of citizenship. I am sure you will appreciate that as the Secretary of State for Education receives a great deal of correspondence he is unable to respond to each one personally. On this occasion I have been asked to reply on his behalf.
As you know, the review of the National Curriculum is currently underway. We have confirmed that English, mathematics, science and physical education will continue to be a part of the National Curriculum in all four key stages. We are also considering which of the other subjects that currently form the National Curriculum, including citizenship, should be part of the National Curriculum in future and at which key stages. We plan to announce our proposals next year following which there will be further consultations before final decisions are made.
For the training place targets for 2012/13, social studies includes citizenship and health and social care. The Training and Development Agency for Schools will continue to ensure that there is a specific allocation made to training providers for citizenship for that period.
The bursary arrangements set out in the implementation plan for the initial teacher training strategy “Training our next generation of outstanding teachers”, published on 8 November, have been designed for the specific purpose of incentivising teacher recruitment. They reflect the extent of the recruitment challenges in the various subject areas and to meet the intention of attracting the best people into teaching. Citizenship has a good record in attracting enough high quality trainees to meet the demand from schools for new teachers. Ministers therefore decided to continue not to offer a bursary for citizenship in 2012/13.
No trainee will need to pay the cost of tuition charges up front. They will only pay once they are in full time employment and earning above £21,000. Monthly repayments will be less than under the current student finance arrangements. Trainees will also receive loans and grants of up to £7,675 towards living costs, a rise from previous years.
The Government believes that it is important that young people learn about the history of our parliamentary democracy and how our system of government has developed. The Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people develop as responsible citizens and play an active role within society.
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