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Overview

The Department for Education (DfE) allocate and fund early years initial teacher training (EYITT) places each academic year. EYITT leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS).

DfE provide training bursaries, training grants and employer incentives to attract high-quality graduates to become early years teachers.

This funding can only be used to offer training programmes that help trainees to meet the teachers standards (early years). The training grant includes the costs of assessment to meet these standards.

Trainees and potential applicants should visit the Get Into Teaching website and our list of EYITT training providers for more information. Employers should visit EYITT: a guide for employers.

Training routes

DfE offer funding for 2 out of the 4 EYITT training routes.

Graduate entry route

This is for graduates studying full-time. Training is typically over a 1 year period.

EYITT providers will receive training grant funding of 7,000 to cover course fees.

Trainees with high academic achievement may be eligible to receive a training bursary. This will be paid to EYITT providers to forward to trainees.

Graduate employment based route

This is for graduates typically working part-time over a 1 year period:

• in paid employment
• in an early years setting
• who need training and further experience to demonstrate the teachers standards (early years)
• who have the right to work in the UK for the duration of the training

14,000 is available for this route, made up of a:

• 7,000 training grant for providers
• 7,000 employer incentive for the trainees employer

Undergraduate entry

Funding is not available from DfE for this route. Trainees should contact Student Finance England to see if they can receive a tuition fee or maintenance loan.

This route is for undergraduates who want to take a level 6 degree in an early childhood-related subject along with EYTS.

This route is full-time and takes 3 or 4 years.

Assessment only

Funding is not available from DfE for this route. This is a self-funded route for graduates who:

• are very experienced at working with children from birth to 5 years old
• can demonstrate the teachers standards (early years) without any further training

This could be an early years teacher who:

• practiced overseas
• understands the early years foundation stage

Training bursaries

Training bursaries are only available to trainees registered on the graduate entry route. Providers should use the trainees highest qualification to determine how much they will get, for example:

• tier 1, 5,000: first-class honours degree, doctoral degree
• tier 2, 4,000: 2.1 honours degree, masters degree
• tier 3, 2,000: 2.2 honours degree
• no bursary: third-class honours degree, third honours degree, ordinary degree, aegrotat, no first degree

Trainees who do not hold a degree are not eligible for a bursary.

If a trainee is ineligible for a bursary award but feels that there are extenuating circumstances which impacted their final result, this must be raised with the awarding body of the qualification. Providers must not apply any discretion in these cases.

If the outcome of a qualification, for example a masters or doctoral degree, is not yet known, bursary eligibility must be determined by the highest relevant academic award on the date the training course started. If the trainee is subsequently awarded a higher qualification, their bursary eligibility may be reassessed provided the award of this qualification was made on or before the date the course started.

Contact eyitt.GENERALENQUIRIES@education.gov.uk for further guidance in these circumstances.

Qualifications record keeping

Providers must keep accurate records of trainees qualifications and how they obtained them, especially for overseas qualifications.

Providers should record:

• names of all trainees granted a bursary
• details of how you assessed the trainees qualifications

DfE may ask to see these records at any time. Providers should keep copies of:

• original trainee documentation or qualification certificates
• correspondence between them and trainees
• other documentation relating to the decision process

Eligibility

To receive a training bursary, trainees must:

• meet the entry requirements
• take a qualifying postgraduate graduate entry course
• hold a UK first degree with at least second-class honours (or equivalent)
• not already hold EYTS or early years professional status (EYPS)
• not do any type of paid-teaching work which contributes to their training while undertaking a graduate entry course, for which the provider received early years funding
• not be registered on another EYITT course

Providers must also:

• notify trainees in writing that they are eligible
• ensure that trainees continue to meet the criteria throughout the course

Training bursary payments

Providers should pay bursaries in 10 monthly instalments. This table shows providers how to calculate trainees monthly bursary instalments.

Payment eligibility

Trainees will be entitled to receive the first bursary payment if they are actively engaged on the EYITT programme on the first day of the month following their start date.

Payments for part-time or modular courses

Trainees on part-time or modular courses may agree a flexible monthly payment plan, which covers the duration of the part-time programme to avoid financial hardship for the trainee. However, providers must make sure that the bursary payments reflect the proportion of the course that the trainee has completed at any point.

As part-time courses will span more than one academic year, providers may award the bursary beyond the academic year 2023 to 2024. Providers are reminded that any bursary payments made after 31 July of the academic year will be included as expenditure for the following academic year, for example 2024 to 2025.

Training grant

Providers must use the training grant funding to meet all training costs for each trainee.

Providers must not:

• charge any additional fees
• switch allocated funding to other trainees

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