Current situation with regards funding of Additional Diplomas this year and future funding.
Student finance for trainee teachers on Additional Diplomas
In the spring 2009 the Department of Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS, formerly DIUS) agreed in principle that additional diplomas (literacy, numeracy and ESOL) constitute initial teacher training, and that trainees on these programmes can be considered for student finance, so long as the courses are run over three academic terms and the applicants are eligible.
Over the summer 2009 BIS has been considering the actual processes which would support this development. Awarding bodies sent in lists of their centres which offer appropriate additional diplomas. The names of these centres needed to go onto a list of ‘designated centres’, held by the Student Finance team at BIS.
At the time of writing (September 2009) we are awaiting news about the completion of this process of designation. We suggest that initial teacher training teams check with their awarding institutions as to whether they are on the list submitted to BIS Student Finance. Potential candidates for courses may wish to start making applications for student financial support.
General help with applying for student finance – there is a useful general information sheet on applying for Student Finance called ‘Funding of Skills for Life Teaching Courses’ (019, LLUK) produced by the LLUK Information and Advice Service. It doesn’t specially address student finance for additional diplomas, as LLUK is awaiting news from the Department. However, it has a lot of useful advice about the general process for candidates for initial teacher training for the Learning and Skills sector.
Update provided by Sally Bird, Skills for Life Support Programme.
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Withdrawal of mandatory award
BIS (formerly DIUS) announced this summer that from next year there will be no mandatory award for those studying teaching qualifications on a part-time basis. There will be a means-tested option but the majority of in-service candidates will find that their income is too great to access sufficient funding to cover the costs of the course. Courses started in 2009 are unaffected.
For more information about the withdrawal of the mandatory award, contact Diane Thurston.
