New scholarships for teachers and SEN support staff
Teachers and SEN support staff will be able to apply for funds worth up to £1 million to develop specialist skills.
Teachers and special educational needs (SEN) support staff will from today be able to apply for funds from the National Scholarship Fund worth up to £1 million to develop their specialist knowledge and skills.
For the fourth year running, teachers can bid for up to £3,500 while SEN support staff can bid for up to £2,000 to fund training which will improve the support available to children and young people with special educational needs.
The application window for the fourth round will open for 4 weeks from 30 April. To date £7 million has been made available through the fund, benefiting almost 2,000 teachers and support staff in schools across the country.
Charlie Taylor, Chief Executive of the National College for Teaching and Leadership, said:
We believe that a teaching profession that values continual professional development is crucial to raising standards in our schools.
These scholarships - alongside other reforms to improve teacher recruitment and training - will help deliver our objective to raise the status of teachers.
Donna Frost Phillips, a successful applicant from the third round of the fund, said:
The fund has allowed me to undertake the specialist dyslexia training course, which I would not have been able to do without this funding. The course is having a direct impact on the literacy development of the learner that I am working with through my training.
The school will have a specialist teacher on site, which means children and teachers will have access to specialist advice teaching, meaning they won’t have to buy in specialist support.
The outcome of the fourth round will be announced in August 2014.
Notes to editors
The National Scholarship Fund is open to all qualified teachers and SEN support staff in eligible schools. Applications are assessed against stringent criteria and verified by a panel of experts.
Applicants are assessed on the following criteria:
- priority specialism of SEN
- support from school - teachers and support staff are required to demonstrate support from their school in terms of accessing resources and being able to carry out activities within and outside the school
The guidance National scholarships for teachers and SEND support staff has more information.
The bursaries will fund up to 50% of a training or development course, up to a maximum of £3,500 for teachers and £2,000 for SEN support staff.
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