FE teachers will be eligible for a “levelling up premium” payment of up to £6,000 from this autumn – but staff in independent training providers have controversially been excluded.
Ministers are extending the scheme, launched before the pandemic for school teachers, to those in further education as part of their efforts to improve teacher recruitment and retention in the sector.
It targets seven subjects linked to “critical skills priorities” and with the highest unfilled vacancy rates in the “statutory” FE sector, including maths, engineering and construction as well as early years.
However, teachers in independent training providers won’t receive the payments. It will only be open to workers in general FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, designated institutions, and 16-to-19-only academies and free schools.
