Teaching Bursary Scheme: FOI release

Information requested

Any information you have in relation to the rationale for why you have designated German as a "hard to fill subject" in Scotland's schools and thus introduced a new bursary to encourage people to apply for teacher training in this subject (Teaching Bursary Scheme run by Skills Development).

Response

It may be helpful to explain that the Teaching Bursary scheme replaced the previous STEM bursary scheme which was introduced in 2017. The scheme previously provided bursaries of £20,000 each, for career changers wishing to undertake a one year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in STEM subjects - Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Home Economics and Chemistry. These are the hardest to fill STEM subjects.

In 2023 the Scheme was expanded to include Gaelic as a secondary subject, and Gaelic medium across all secondary subjects and in primary and was renamed to the Teaching Bursary scheme.

In 2024 the decision was made to expand the scheme to include Modern Languages, which includes German as a subject. There are several secondary subjects that are identified by the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group as priority subjects. One of these is Modern Languages where higher education institutions have seen challenges in recent years in meeting intake targets. It is for this reason Modern Languages was included as a hard to fill subject.

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