The Department for Education has told teaching internship providers not to begin recruitment for the programme, with funding for the scheme said to be under review.

About 1,000 university students take part each year in the Department for Education-run scheme, which gives students studying degrees in relevant priority subjects paid experience of teaching before they decide whether to commit to a career in the classroom. The Department has previously said the programme supported a pipeline of future teachers.

The pause was reported by Schools Week on Thursday 12 November. Providers have been told not to start recruiting interns while the funding position is reviewed, leaving the future of the next round of placements uncertain.

How the teaching internships programme works

Under the programme, internships typically last three weeks and take place towards the end of the academic year, in June and July. Grants were awarded to schools following a competitive procurement process in autumn 2025 to deliver the programme in the summers of 2026, 2027 and 2028, and the Department is not accepting any further applications from schools to join the scheme.

In 2026, the funding paid to a school was £2,065 for each intern completing a three-week internship, with up to £700 paid to the school to cover coordination costs and recruitment of interns. The Department does not provide funding for students interested in teaching subjects outside those included in the programme, and prospective interns are directed to the Get Into Teaching service for information.

A difficult backdrop for teacher recruitment

The pause comes at a difficult moment for teacher recruitment. Applications for the 2027-28 teacher training cycle opened on 6 October, but a month on, the Department had still not published details of which subjects will attract bursaries and how much they will be worth, information it normally publishes in early October.

Schools Week reported earlier this month that some teacher training providers had seen applications fall by as much as 66 per cent compared with the same time last year, with some providers also reporting a sharp drop in acceptances. Providers said prospective trainees were being put off applying or were deferring offers because of the lack of information about bursaries.

Funding for subject knowledge enhancement programmes, usually published at the same time as bursary information, has also yet to be announced, leaving some providers unable to interview or make offers to applicants whose place would depend on completing such a course.

What happens next

No decision on the future funding of the teaching internships programme has been announced. The scheme sits alongside the wider teacher training system, with the first recruitment data for the next application cycle expected later this month and the annual census of teacher training data due to be published in December.

For students who were considering a teaching internship next summer, the pause means there is no recruitment timetable to work to for now.