Government to pay off new teachers' student loans

The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has for the first time disclosed the scale of the department for education and skill's plans to pay off new teachers' student loans.

Up to 35,000 graduates will be eligible to have their student loans paid off under the pilot scheme, which, subject to Parliamentary debate, will start in September.

The pilot scheme will act as an incentive to attract teachers in the problem areas of science, mathematics and languages and across both secondary schools and further education colleges.

In its first year, 2002-03, 10,650 teachers in schools and further education colleges would be eligible to have loans repaid if they work for 10 years in state education.

Newly qualified teachers will have to work for 10 years if they have income-contingent loans, and five or seven years if they have mortgage-style loans, before they are fully paid off.

"This makes us more competitive in the market. It is potentially an exciting extra incentive which will also help us push for incremental year-on-year improvement in teacher recruitment," Ralph Tabberer, chief executive of the TTA, told the Financial Times.

The TTA is responsible for attracting new teachers into the profession. This year they have expanded advertising, introduced short "taster" courses in teaching and collaborated with city businesses to get the best graduates back into the classroom.

While welcoming the benefit to those going into teacher training over the next three years, Penny Hollings, NUS national secretary-elect, said the government needed to be fairer to all.

"Debt deters students from completing their degrees or even applying in the first place. The government needs to take action now to create a fairer funding system for all students, not just those who they want to steer into particular careers," said Ms Hollings.

Across the education sectors, recruitment in the areas of science and maths is increasingly deemed crucial to the future health of scientific research in Britain. This year the Roberts Review described the crisis in young people's interest in science and maths, which it said began in the classroom.