§ Lord Desaiasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people have applied for courses of initial teacher training in the 2003–04 academic year. [HL2421]
§ Baroness Ashton of UphollandFigures published by the Graduate Teacher Training Registry on 2 April show that, up to 22 March, 34,013 people had applied for places on postgraduate courses of initial teacher training at institutions in England in 2003–04. That is a 16 per cent rise on the same point in last year's recruitment cycle, when 29,445 applications had been received. These figures include increases of 25 per cent in the number of applicants to train in mathematics; 12 per cent to train in science; 3 per cent to train in modern languages; 10 per cent to train in English; and 40 per cent to train in technology.
Recruitment to courses of initial teacher training fell for eight successive years from 1992–93. Following the introduction of teacher training bursaries and golden hello incentives, it has risen in each of the past three years. Applications for training in 2003–04 will continue to be processed until the autumn, and final recruitment figures are expected to be published in November.