The government has named eight teacher trainers that will pilot the new teacher degree apprenticeship from next year.

Six universities, plus two partnerships between universities and other providers, will be funded to pilot the route for would-be maths teachers who do not hold an existing degree.

The government announced last month that a long-awaited degree apprenticeship will launch next year.

The four-year course, which would see apprentices achieve both a degree and qualified teacher status, will be piloted with “up to” 150 trainee maths teachers from September 2025, before a wider rollout.

Apprentices will spend around 40 per cent of their time studying and the rest of the time in the classroom. Ministers particularly want to see teaching assistants trained up via the route.

Under the pilot, the government will provide grants to cover the training. In the wider rollout, training costs will be covered by the apprenticeship levy.

Schools and teacher trainers are also free to “design and deliver” teacher degree apprenticeships across all primary and secondary subjects “within the same timeframes as the funding pilot and in future years”.

However, those doing so would not receive grant funding.

The DfE said evidence from the funding pilot “will be used to inform considerations on any future expansions of funding grants for the teacher degree apprenticeship”.

It comes after Schools Week reported last week how proponents of the route believe it presents a “glorious” opportunity for those without a degree to train to teach, will help bring under-represented groups into the profession and give schools a much-needed option to spend levy funding.

But they face an uphill battle to convince sceptics about the quality of the route, as unions warn it must not erode teachers’ pay and conditions.

The providers

• Nottingham Trent University
• Staffordshire University, in partnership with the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Teacher Education Collective (SSTEC)
• University College London (UCL)
• University of Brighton
• University of Huddersfield
• University of Nottingham
• University of Wolverhampton
• Xavier Teach Southeast, in partnership with the University of Sussex