More than a third of Teach First’s autumn cohort of trainee teachers have been paid a grant to relocate or commute to join the scheme, amid concerns about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on teacher recruitment.
The charity has said that its autumn cohort has more than doubled in size compared with 2022, following the introduction of a pilot financial support scheme.
With the new teachers starting work in their placement schools this half term, the charity’s autumn cohort has grown from 121 trainees in its first group in 2022 to 268 in 2023, with more than a third of trainees receiving a grant.
Of this year’s 268 trainees, 101 received the grant with an almost even split in the numbers receiving funding to relocate or commute.
The news comes amid increasing concern over trainee teachers being forced to withdraw from training owing to rising costs.
Teach First announced in June that it would offer a £2,000 grant to trainees who relocate to train, and £1,000 to those who decide to commute rather than relocate for Teach First’s Autumn Institute, which begins its initial teacher training programme in September.
In the four weeks before the announcement, Teach First received 958 applications to its Autumn Institute - but a further 1,357 trainee applications were received in the four weeks after the announcement and before the deadline.
‘Simply unviable’
Responding to the news, Teach First CEO Russell Hobby said that the cost-of-living crisis “is leading some to reject teaching as simply unviable”.
And Mr Hobby said that the biggest barriers facing trainees were the payment of deposits and their first month’s rent.
But the grants have also been used for public transport tickets and fuel costs, with some putting the money towards the initial purchase of a car or bicycle.
Mr Hobby said that he hoped the pilot would give policymakers “a blueprint for change and allow every child to fulfil their potential”.
Money woes
It comes after Tes revealed in May that an increasing number of trainee teachers were being forced to take on part-time jobs alongside their courses to make ends meet or having to drop out of courses because of money woes.
Teach First said in June it was launching the pilot payment scheme after a large increase in requests from school leaders for trainees training with the charity.
Ross Bevzs, Teach First trainee history teacher at The Bulwell Academy, Nottingham, said that without the relocation grant that Teach First offered, he would “never have been able to move”.
And Connor, who asked for his surname not be used, a Teach First trainee history teacher at West Exe School in Exeter, said he could not have afforded the first month’s rent but that the relocation grant helped with those initial bills.
“Without that grant, I wouldn’t have had anywhere to live and would have had to delay my new career in teaching,” he added.
