The advertising campaign aims to communicate widely the Department for Education and Employment’s (DfEE) announcement of extra funding for refresher courses and plans for new 'welcome back' bonuses. The initiative provides financial support and incentives for qualified teachers to return to the classroom.

TTA Chief Executive Ralph Tabberer said:

'The initial stages of our campaign ‘Those who can, teach’ helped to attract a record number of enquiries from people interested in becoming teachers, and September 2000 saw more than 2,250 extra teachers begin training – the first increase in eight years.

'From next week, we will extending our efforts to encourage people who have recently left the profession or decided to take a break, perhaps for family reasons, to think again about what they are missing.

'There will be more refresher courses, allowing those who have been out of the classroom for some time to brush up on their skills and expertise, with a bursary of up to £150 per week, and even funding for child care.

'Former teachers appreciate the emotional rewards which only teaching offers. I hope they will look at these new initiatives and the significant improvements which are taking place, including the increased salary scales, and better career prospects. There has never been a better time to return to the classroom.'

Welcome back bonus

• As part of the £200 million teachers package that David Blunkett announced in his Budget statement last week, the Government proposes to offer bonuses of at least £2,000 to qualified teachers who return to the classroom between Easter and Christmas 2001, having been away from teaching for at least a year.

• A higher, £4,000 bonus would be offered to returners in the shortage subjects of maths, science, modern languages, technology and English. The School Teachers' Review Body is being consulted on the proposal. Beneficiaries of this scheme would not necessarily have to have attended a returners' course.'

Returners’ courses

• From April the number of places on courses for returners is increased to1,350, and available at centres throughout the country, including Lincoln, Bristol, London, Manchester, Cheltenham and Lowestoft.
• They last six to 12 weeks, and include an introduction to the recently introduced numeracy and literacy strategies and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) standards required for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS); participants qualify for a bursary of up to £150 per week in addition to help with childcare costs.

Around 29,700 people are training to be teachers this year – 2,250 more than last year, and the first increase in eight years. The number of enquiries to the Teaching Information Line (0845 6000 991) from people interested in becoming teachers has trebled, with almost half coming from people aged 31 or over.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

1. The TTA was established under the Education Act 1994. Its purpose is to raise standards in schools by attracting able and committed people into teaching and by improving the quality of teacher training.
2. The Teacher Training Agency is responsible for a wide range of initiatives to promote recruitment to the teaching profession; for funding initial teacher training, which is linked to the quality of the training provision and identified through OFSTED inspection; for further development of the standards for award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), including currently the new QTS Skills Tests for numeracy, literacy and ICT; and working with the New Opportunities Fund for the provision of training in the use of ICT in subject teaching.
3. Acknowledging the important role mature entrants have to play in the profession, the Government has also extended the successful Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) designed to ease the transition between other careers and teaching. Details include:
   • An increase to 2,250 in the number of on-the-job training opportunities for eligible graduates to help meet demand;
   • Trainees have the security of being employed in a school on a salary of at least £12,000 while on the GTP;
   • Schools offering places on the Graduate Teacher Programme can receive up to £13,000. Training grants of up to £4,000 to cover expenses like assessment costs are also available.