Overview for Employers:
A teacher apprenticeship needs to be established by the employer of the proposed apprentice. The employer engages a registered apprenticeship provider (in this case The University of Staffordshire) to deliver the programme. The employer will need to set up and support the apprenticeship, including advertising the position via The University of Staffordshire and The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub, funding it from their levy pot. You will be informed of any potential applicants and receive application forms from The University of Staffordshire and The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub. To ensure the levy is available to the school, the employing school must be in partnership with an ITT Provider. The employer will confirm to the University that the apprentice has been DBS checked and is Fit to Practice so that the University can complete its own compliance checks.
The employer is responsible for ensuring that there is a qualified teacher within the school who will act as the apprentice’s mentor. Please visit our mentoring page for more information.
The apprentice needs to spend 20% of their employed time in “off the job” training, the equivalent of one day a week of a full-time contract, and this is part of their paid hours. The University of Staffordshire requires this to be a Friday. This training could be at the University itself, at another designated partner school or in the placement school (task-based and they cannot be teaching on this day – this could be working on schemes of learning, for instance).
There is a statutory second placement during the apprenticeship, which will run from after February half-term until the Easter holidays for 30 days. As the employer, you will continue to employ the apprentice but they will be places in another school during this period – this could be a school within your own trust if applicable.
The benefits to schools of employing a Level 6 Teacher Apprentice
Supporting a Level 6 teacher apprentice (Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship – PGTA) allows schools to “grow their own” talent by training staff already immersed in the school culture. It is highly cost-effective, bypassing recruitment agency fees while delivering almost-immediate classroom teaching capacity.
Key Benefits for Schools
- Financial Efficiency: Course fees (up to £9,000) are fully covered by the Apprenticeship Levy for levy-paying schools, or 95% co-funded by the government for non-levy payers.
- Trained On-Site: The apprentice learns the school’s specific ethos from day one. With 80% on-the-job training and 20% off-the-job study, they contribute to the school’s teaching timetable immediately.
- Improved Retention: Offering teaching apprenticeships—such as upskilling existing High-Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) or cover supervisors—boosts staff morale and long-term retention.
- No Student Loans for Trainee: Candidates earn a salary on the unqualified teacher scale, making the route highly attractive to career changers who cannot afford unpaid training.
DfE Grant Funding & Salary Subsidies
While standard teacher trainees on traditional university routes may apply for personal tax-free bursaries directly, apprentices do not receive these individual bursaries. Instead, the Department for Education (DfE) provides grant funding to the employing school/provider to help offset the apprentice’s salary costs.
For the current academic year, DfE grant funding is typically aligned with priority subjects:
- £29,000: Chemistry, Computing, Mathematics, Physics
- £20,000: Languages (e.g., French, Spanish) and Design and Technology
- £5,000: Biology and Geography
Note: These grants are subject to eligibility and are typically paid to the school (often via the Initial Teacher Training provider) across the duration of the apprenticeship.
More information can be found on the University of Staffordshire website and via the SSTEC website.
Please contact us if you have any further queries about apprenticeships. Here at The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub we have both recruited and trained apprentices for the last six years and we aim to help and support you in any way we can with this. Contact Becky Parsons, ITT Co-ordinator for The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub tsh@painsley.staffs.sch.uk
Please click here for the Gov UK guidance on offering a TDA – published December 2024.