Student teachers in England are to be paid a salary while they are training, in an attempt to improve recruitment.

The government has announced that student teachers on postgraduate training courses will receive �6,000 a year - �150 a week.

Schools training teachers through the employment-based graduate teacher training programme will receive �13,000 per trainee per year.

This will be in addition to the �4,000 per trainee schools already receive, and is intended to cover the cost of trainees' salaries.

'Golden hellos'

As well as the training salary, there will be a new system of "golden hellos" to encourage students to train in shortage subjects.

"Golden hellos" currently exist in the form of �5,000 given to those training to teach maths, science and modern languages.

This is given to trainees in two instalments of �2,500 each - one when they start their training courses, and the second when they start teaching.

The new system will see the amount reduced to �4,000, but the incentives will also be offered to those who train to teach technology.

The money will be handed over when the trainees successfully complete their induction period, and start their second year as qualified teachers.

The training salary is intended to encourage a greater number and higher calibre of graduates to enter teaching.

In the current buoyant employment market, it is believed that many new graduates are eager to begin earning - rather than stay for another postgraduate year on a teacher training course.

Teacher shortage

It is hoped the salary will make staying on for another year a more financially-attractive proposition.

It will be introduced for postgraduate secondary teaching trainees from September, and trialled for postgraduate primary teaching trainees.

It will not be paid to students on four-year undergraduate teacher training courses.

There have been calls in the past for such a training salary - including from academics predicting that it would be the only long-term solution to the teacher shortage.

Last September, the Liberal Democrats called for a training salary of �8,000 a year as an incentive for graduates.

The introduction of a training allowance is the latest attempt by the government to tackle a long-running difficulty in recruiting high-quality graduates into teaching.

After an initial impact of "golden hellos", there have been doubts about the effectiveness of these cash incentives alone.

The Teacher Training Agency, responsible for recruiting teachers, has also encouraged applications from "career shifters" - adults who want to enter teaching from other types of employment.

The training salary package, which will cost �70m a year, is part of the �1bn boost for education announced in last week's Budget.

'Clear message'

The Education Secretary, David Blunkett, said: "Teacher recruitment is a top priority. We now need to add momentum to the drive to attract more talented people into the profession.

"In a competitive labour market with rising employment, graduates are in high demand. So we need to ensure that those graduates who want to become teachers see teaching as an attractive career option.

"Graduates entering teacher training do not have to pay fees either.

"I believe that with the prospects of earning higher classroom salaries as well, this will be an attractive proposition to those moving from college to a career in the classroom."

School Standards Minister Estelle Morris said: "It will give the financial support while they're training, and that will be welcomed by so many people.

"I also think it gives a clear message of the importance of education. I think people want a job that is valued, and does have high standing in the community."

'Sticking plaster'

Earlier this month, John Dunford, General Secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, warned that if the government did not take radical action to attract and retain more teachers, in five years' time some pupils would only be able to attend school part-time.

On Thursday, he called the training salary a "big step in the right direction".

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said the measure was "long overdue".

This sentiment was echoed by the National Association of Head Teachers, whose General Secretary David Hart said: "Dramatic action is necessary at a time when it is a buyers' market for good honours graduates seeking jobs."

Nigel de Gruchy, General Secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: "It's sticking plaster again, albeit of a rather more expensive kind than usual.

"One day the government will have to confront to brutal reality that vastly improved career pay prospects, the restoration of trust in teachers, measures to strip out excessive bureaucracy and workload and deal with pupil indiscipline in school, are all necessary to make the breakthrough required."