Who really funds teachers

The National College for Teaching and Leadership is not “the Department for Education agency that funds teacher education” (“Volte-face on teachers’ feedback”, News in brief, 22 January): the funders are the students themselves, who borrow £,000 for an undergraduate initial teacher training degree, or another £9,000 on top of the £,000 for a postgraduate ITT qualification.

The DfE’s contribution, if it exists at all, would be via any apportionment of the resource accounting and budgeting charge (which ought to be lower for teachers, given starting salaries of more than £21,000 and strong employment prospects), and by the periodic incentives/bribes that tend to reflect the extent to which the department has helped to create a teacher supply crisis in many subjects.

Name and address withheld