Initial Teacher Training Bursary: Letter to the Secretary of State for Education
24th October 2025
The three music subject associations, Music Mark, the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), and the Music Teachers’ Association (MTA), have written to the Secretary of State for Education to challenge the recent decision to withdraw the bursary available to study to become a music teacher in England.
A bursary was reintroduced in 2023/24 to increase take up of places to train as a specialist in music, recognising the shortfall in skilled teachers in the workforce. The government has missed its targets for recruiting teachers to train for many years and it was hoped that this incentive would address the fact that there were not enough teachers to ensure every secondary school had a qualified music teacher to deliver a statutory curriculum subject until the end of Key Stage 3 and to offer qualifications at Key Stages 4 and 5.
It is understood that there have been more students in the cohorts since the bursary was available, but that targets are still not being met. With the imminent publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review which promises to highlight the value of the arts subjects, alongside the Child Welfare and Schools Bill which will require all state schools to deliver the national curriculum thus ensuring that Free and Academy Schools will need to provide music as a curriculum subject, we are unsure as to why the bursary has been cut.
Bridget Whyte, CEO of Music Mark says:
“Our united message to government represents voices from across the music education and wider music industry ecology. Together we are challenging this decision as without an appropriate number of skilled music teachers in schools the government’s commitment to provide all children and young people with equal access to the music curriculum and pathways to qualifications and potentially careers cannot be realised.”
Read the full letter here:
Dear Secretary of State
Teacher trainee bursary for music
We are deeply disappointed by the government’s recent decision to withdraw the bursary for trainee music teachers for the academic year 2026-27.
The Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), Music Mark and Music Teachers’ Association (MTA) are the three subject associations for music. We represent thousands of music teachers in England as well as the network of music education hubs and the hundreds of associated partners.
Music teacher recruitment has been in crisis for many years, and the DfE has missed its own recruitment targets for secondary music teachers in 11 out of the last 12 years. The government’s ITT census for 2024-25 shows that only 40% of the target for music trainees was met, which, although an improvement on just 27% in 2023-24, is still a significant shortfall. The National Foundation for Educational Research estimated in March 2025 that music teacher trainee applications for 2025-26 will again reach only around 40% of the recruitment target – a target that has already been cut by 31% to just 565 trainees. With the government failing to hit its own reduced target, there is no clear publicly stated rationale to support this decision to remove the best tool at your disposal to increase ITT recruitment. We would welcome further clarity on this matter and any thinking on future plans to address this issue.
Music teachers make an enormous difference to the education that children and young people receive, and the bursary makes a career as a music teacher possible for those who would be otherwise unable to afford the cost of training. We believe the improved figures since 2024 reflect the reinstatement of the music bursary in 2023 and that axing it will inevitably have a negative impact on recruitment, rolling back the limited progress that has been made in the last two years. This will be felt across the country, leaving more schools without music teachers, resulting in unequal access to music education.
The government has spoken many warm words about the importance of music education and the importance of the creative sector to the Industrial Strategy, but without teachers to deliver music in schools these words will mean nothing and long-term plans for the creative sectors will be undermined. We urge you to reinstate the bursary to ensure that music is taught by specialists in all schools.
We look forward to your reply.
