The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) has unveiled a new scheme to support people training to be a teacher in the FE sector.

The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Fee Awards will pay institutions £1,500 towards the fees of a learner training to teach basic maths or english.

It will also offer £1,000 for students wishing to teach any other subject.

Rob Wye, chief executive of LSIS, said skilled and qualified teachers were the “lifeblood” of the sector.

“Teachers in further education are shaping the future workforce of every sector in the English economy,” Mr Wye said.

“The teaching of English and Maths are fundamental skills for all employees and I am delighted that we are now able to support the training of teaching these vital skills.”

The scheme has a budget of £11.5 million, and could support up to 11,000 learners starting teacher training in the 2012/13 academic year.

“The ITT Fee Awards are one way of ensuring that professionals with the right skills and expertise are able to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the further education and skills sector,” Mr Wye added.

The scheme is being delivered by LSIS on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Meanwhile students who are starting their second year of teacher training are eligible for a £400 grant, administered by the Institute for Learning on behalf of BIS.

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  1. Marie-Clare Ellington

    Where are the teaching jobs in FE for those encouraged by these fee awards to train to teach basic maths and English? I have PGCE (post-16) and the Level 4 Subject Specialist qualifications for both numeracy and literacy specialists, more than ten years’ FE experience teaching adult Skills for Life, GCSE and A-Level English, Key and Functional Skills but have just been made redundant from an FE College which apparently has no further use either for those skills or for me as a teacher of ITT. A colleague who has PGCE and the subject specialist qualification in adult literacy has been made redundant in the same round of lay-offs. The majority of FE practitioners teaching maths and English have part-time or casual hourly-paid contracts. Rob Wye: I agree that English and Maths are fundamental skills for all employees and I am one of many who already have the teaching skills to help develop them; why offer enhanced support for people to train when there are many qualified, experienced teachers unemployed or under-employed?