The Welsh government is hoping a further cash incentive will see a new generation of secondary school teachers entering the profession in the coming years to boost results in physics, chemistry, maths, Welsh, foreign languages and computer science.
Education secretary Kirsty Williams said she was announcing these incentives for the academic year 2018/19 early so that the Welsh government could provide “clarity and assurance in our commitment to our newest teachers”.
The drive is part of a series of reforms by the Welsh government aimed at improving Wales’ PISA score.
Ms Williams announced that graduates with a 1st (or a PhD/Master’s) undertaking secondary postgraduate initial teacher education (ITE) programmes in mathematics, Welsh, computer science, physics and chemistry will now receive a £20,000 incentive, while modern language students will receive £15,000 to help them with their training.
Students undertaking primary PGCE studies whose subject specialism is in English, Welsh, mathematics, computer science, physics or chemistry with a first degree classification will now get an extra £3,000 on top of the £3,000 incentive currently available.
A new Welsh-medium incentive of £5,000 will compliment arrangements for existing support under the Welsh Medium Improvement Scheme. Half will be payable on successful completion of qualified teacher status and the rest on completion of induction in a Welsh-medium or bilingual secondary school, or on completion of induction teaching Welsh in any secondary setting.
Ms Williams said: “It is impossible to overstate the importance of our teachers’ role in helping to succeed in our national mission to raise standards, reduce the attainment gap and deliver an education system that is a source of national pride and confidence.
“Our ambitious reforms need well-supported, high-quality, aspirational teachers. We must therefore attract and support the best graduates.
“In Wales we experience challenges in recruiting to certain subjects and in certain geographical locations. This is the challenge we must, and will, rise to.”
The Welsh medium incentive, she added, was to increase the number of teachers who can teach bilingually, through the medium of Welsh and teach Welsh as a subject.