13.10.2023: UK Music has welcomed a Government announcement outlining plans to reintroduce teacher training bursaries for music – meeting a key ask in our Manifesto for Music. 

The Department for Education (DfE) said this week that trainee music teachers at secondary level will be entitled to bursary of £10,000 from September 2024. 

The move comes after the Government axed the bursaries in 2020 to the dismay of music professionals. 

The reintroduction is intended to deliver a significant boost in the number of music teachers – a key demand in UK Music’s Manifesto for Music, which was unveiled in September. 

According to the National Foundation for Educational Research, just 31% of the target for music teacher recruitment will be met in 2023. 

UK Music’s Interim Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said:

“We welcome the reintroduction of the teacher training bursary for music, which we called for in our Manifesto for Music.

“However, there is still far more to be done to fix the current shortage of music teachers.”

At Labour’s conference in Liverpool, Shadow Music Minister Barbara Keeley spoke at UK Music’s fringe event and called on the Government  to reintroduce teacher training bursaries for music. 

You can read more about the Government’s announcement in Music Teacher here.

You can read UK Music’s Manifesto for Music in which we outline a series of recommendations to boost music education here.