Teaching is one of the few professions that will pay a career-changer a five-figure sum simply to train, if you happen to want to teach the right subject. It will also pay you a salary from day one on a different route. The two models do not combine, and choosing between them is the main financial decision you will make.
On a fee-funded course, you pay the tuition (usually through a student loan) and receive a bursary on top. Bursaries are tax-free, paid in monthly instalments, never repaid, and awarded automatically if you are eligible: there is no separate application.
Here is what is actually on offer for courses starting in the 2026/27 academic year in England:
| Subject | Bursary | Scholarship (alternative) |
|---|---|---|
| Chemistry | £29,000 | £31,000 |
| Computing | £29,000 | £31,000 |
| Physics | £29,000 | £31,000 |
| Maths | £29,000 | Withdrawn for 2026/27 |
| Languages (French, German, Spanish) | £20,000 | £22,000 |
| Design and technology | £20,000 | None |
| Biology | £5,000 | None |
| Geography | £5,000 | None |
Scholarships are an alternative to the bursary, not an addition: you cannot hold both. They are awarded by subject bodies rather than the government, such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, BCS for computing, and the British Council for languages, and unlike bursaries you have to apply to them directly and meet their own criteria.
English, art and design, music, and religious education have had their bursaries removed entirely for 2026/27. Trainees in those subjects receive no bursary at all. Biology and geography were cut from £26,000 to £5,000, and languages and design and technology from £26,000 to £20,000. Only chemistry, computing, maths and physics held at £29,000.
No subject received an increase. If you read an older guide quoting £26,000 for biology, it is out of date. Always check the current year's figures on Get Into Teaching before you build a plan around them, because these numbers change annually and have been moving downward.
If your subject's bursary is small or gone, or you simply cannot go a year without income, the salaried routes are the answer. On these you are employed by a school and paid a salary while you train towards Qualified Teacher Status. The trade-off is straightforward: you do not receive a bursary or scholarship, because you are receiving a wage instead.
The main option is the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship. You earn while working in a school, your training costs nothing, and from 2026/27 the government grant paid to your employing school was set to match the equivalent training incentives, at £29,000 for chemistry, computing, maths and physics, £20,000 for languages, and £5,000 for biology and geography. That funding goes to the school to cover your salary costs, not to you directly, but it is the reason these places exist.
Often overlooked, and better funded than school teaching in some subjects. FE teacher training bursaries for 2026/27 are £31,000 for computing, engineering and manufacturing, maths and science, £15,000 for SEND specialists, and £10,000 for English. If you are coming from an industry background rather than an academic one, teaching your trade in a college is frequently the more natural fit anyway.
Veterans without a degree can access a £40,000 undergraduate bursary if they served at least four years and are within five years of discharge. And final-year undergraduates on secondary maths and physics courses leading to QTS can receive a £9,000 bursary.
An honours degree at 2:2 or higher, a master's or a PhD. For bursary eligibility this is the threshold; there is no bursary below a 2:2.
Many providers accept related degrees and offer subject knowledge enhancement courses to bridge gaps, which is how a lot of career-changers end up teaching a subject they did not major in.
Plus GCSE science at grade 4 if you want to teach primary.
For most subjects you only qualify for a bursary or scholarship if you are entitled to support under student finance criteria. Languages and physics are the exception for 2026/27, where that condition does not apply.
A £29,000 tax-free bursary is genuinely one of the best-funded retraining offers in the country, but it lasts one year, and the salary that follows is a normal teacher's salary rather than a continuation of that figure. Plan the year after, not just the training year.
Teacher retention is a well-documented problem, and workload is the reason most often given. Every honest account of the job mentions it. Spend time in a classroom before committing, through school experience or as a cover supervisor. The people who last are usually the ones who knew exactly what they were walking into.
Every honest account of teaching says the same thing, so test the reality before committing a year to it. School experience placements and cover supervisor work both exist for exactly this.
The quiz matches how you like to work to routes like this one, then points you at the guides that fit.
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