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Promoting Quality in Teacher Education

FE ITE Newsletter: 2026 spring term edition

22 January 2026

Welcome

FE ITE Newsletter: 2026 spring term edition

Welcome to the fourth edition of the further education (FE) initial teacher education (ITE) newsletter from the Department for Education (DfE).

This edition focuses on the legislative steps that the government is taking to improve FE ITE, and on the opening of the application window for FE ITE bursaries in academic year 2026 to 2027. It also confirms which FE ITE courses will be eligible to receive student support funding in academic year 2026 to 2027.

Please share this newsletter with colleagues in your own institution and more widely, so that we can reach all corners of the sector and all those with an interest in teacher training for FE.

If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive future editions directly, we encourage you to subscribe by emailing FE.ITEnewsletter@education.gov.uk and provide the email address that you wish to use. The DfE Personal information charter can be found here.

For all FE ITE policy queries not related to newsletter subscription, please email the department at FE.ITE@education.gov.uk.

Contents

1.  FE ITE reform update

2.  FE ITE bursaries: opening of application window for academic year 2026 to 2027

3.  List of courses eligible for student support funding for academic year 2026 to 2027

1. FE ITE reform update

As sector colleagues will be aware following the FE ITE reform webinars in June 2025, the summer and autumn 2025 editions of this newsletter, and the recent Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, government is taking steps to deliver a programme of reform to assure the quality of FE ITE.

Today (22 January), government has laid new regulations in Parliament, which will form the basis for these reforms.

Government is required to publish all related documentation to support Parliamentary consideration of the underpinning regulations. In the interest of transparency and to provide the sector with early sight of the proposed changes, we have provided the below summary and links to relevant documentation – this can also be found on the FE ITE overview page on gov.​uk.

The Parliamentary process is expected to complete early in the summer term 2026. If the regulations are approved, the following changes will be instituted for academic year 2026 to 2027:

·Â Â Â Â Â Â The Department for Education (DfE) will specify the courses which are subject to the requirements set out in the regulations. A draft list of specified courses can be found here: Draft list of specified further education initial teacher education training courses. It is important to be clear that the list of specified courses does not replace or otherwise affect the list of courses eligible for student support funding (see item 3 of this newsletter below)

·Â Â Â Â Â Â All providers that expect to deliver a specified FE ITE course will be required to register with DfE prior to each academic year. A draft copy of the registration criteria, which outlines the process that providers will need to follow, has been tested with a number of current ITE providers and can be found here: Draft further education initial teacher education registration requirements. We expect the registration process to run across May and June 2026 ahead of the 2026 to 2027 academic year

·Â Â Â Â Â Â All providers of specified FE ITE courses will be required to have regard to curriculum content guidance, which the DfE has developed following the recent Call for Evidence, and with assistance from the expert advisory group on further education (FE) teacher training and development. A draft copy of this guidance can be found here: Draft further education initial teacher education curriculum content guidance

·Â Â Â Â Â Â All providers of specified FE ITE courses will be required to have regard to guidance on course delivery, which has been reviewed by the expert advisory group. A draft copy of this guidance can be found here: Draft further education initial teacher education delivery guidance. If the regulations are approved, this guidance will replace the existing non-statutory guidance which providers will already be familiar with.

·Â Â Â Â Â Â All providers of specified FE ITE courses will be required to submit regular data to DfE. A draft data specification can be found here: Draft further education initial teacher education provision of information requirements. Further information on this requirement will follow in future newsletters.

FE ITE providers and sector stakeholders should be clear that none of the above reforms will apply unless and until Parliament approves the regulations. We will provide a further update in the summer term edition of this newsletter in April 2026, which will also include details of sector webinars that will provide a further opportunity for providers to hear more detail about each of the reforms, and what they need to do ahead of the start of the academic year.

2. FE ITE bursaries: opening of application window for academic year 2026 to 2027

The application window for the FE ITE pre-service bursaries programme for the 2026 to 2027 academic year is now open.

Full details, including eligibility criteria, qualifying subjects and values, are available in the bursaries funding manual, which together with the application form are now available here: FE funding: initial teacher education bursary, 2026 to 2027

Funding for bursaries is allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, regardless of the applicant’s choice of eligible subject specialism, except for English bursaries which will be capped at 100 awards, as in previous years.

We accept eligible bursary applications on a rolling basis until the available funding has been exhausted, so please ensure you get your applications in as soon as possible.

We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of background but, as ethnic minority groups are currently under-represented in the FE teaching workforce, we would encourage applications from members of these groups.

If you have any questions about the bursaries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing ITT.Funding@education.gov.uk.

3.List of courses eligible for student support funding for academic year 2026 to 2027

The department publishes a list of FE ITE courses that are eligible to receive student support funding in each academic year. We can confirm that the list of courses is unchanged for courses commencing in academic year 2026/27.

Therefore, only those courses that (a) allow a person to achieve the occupational standard for a learning and skills teacher (b) are developed by a higher education provider with degree awarding powers, (c) are at levels 5, 6 or 7, are eligible to receive student support funding.

This list of courses eligible for student support funding is entirely distinct from the list of courses linked to in item 1 of this newsletter.

If the regulations noted in item 1 above are approved, it will be possible for an FE ITE course to be included on the list of specified courses (and therefore subject to the proposed reforms – see first bullet under item 1 above), but for that course not to be eligible for student support funding. Providers therefore need to take care to assure themselves whether any FE ITE courses they are proposing to offer will be subject to the new legal requirements, and separately as to whether those courses are eligible to receive student support funding (or other public funding).