Question reference: S5W-35424
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 February 2021
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the STEM Bursary Scheme.
Answer
The STEM bursary scheme, which offers a bursary of £20,000 to encourage career changers to train as secondary school teachers in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computing Science, Technical Education and Home Economics, was introduced in 2018. Initially 100 bursaries were made available each year but in 2020 this increased to 150.
The numbers of bursaries awarded are as follows:
107 in 2018
111 in 2019
150 in 2020
The success of the scheme demonstrates that teaching is recognised as an attractive profession and we will again be making available 150 bursaries of £20,000 in 2021-22 to career changers to undertake a PGDE in these STEM subjects. Skills Development Scotland intend to open the 2021 bursary scheme for applications on 5 April.