Bring back bursaries

In the summer of 2024, the Historical Association (HA) in partnership with HTEN carried out a survey of ITE provision for history across the primary and secondary sectors. The bursary for secondary teachers to train in history was removed in 2021, meaning that trainee history teachers receive no financial support in order to train to teach, whereas their counterparts training in almost all other subjects receive some financial support.  

The response from the DfE indicates that history teacher supply is not under threat and it is therefore not deemed necessary to offer a bursary. Our research shows that while history recruited well during Covid, history has not recruited to target more recently and the target has also been lowered. At primary, subject specialisms are patchy and also not recruiting to target.  

There are also issues of inequality associated with making it harder for a diverse range of people to train to become history teachers. If we want to attract a broad range of people from different backgrounds to the profession, we must be willing to invest in their future not just as teachers, but as history teachers.  

We and HTEN are urging members to write to your local MP about this issue, asking for the government to put an end to the inequality in initial teacher education and to reinstate the bursary for all subjects and age-phases. HTEN have created a template letter for you to send to your local MP, highlighting the urgent need to reinstate a standard bursary for all student teachers, available via the front page of the HTEN website. 

A copy of HTEN's original letter to the Secretary of State for Education, along with the DfE's response, can also be found below.