TUITION fees are up, the Education Maintenance Allowance has been scrapped and the Building Schools for the Future programme has been abolished.

The Government is really wielding the axe on the Department for Education’s budget.

However, one programme getting more Government support is an initiative in Dovercourt to train primary school teachers.

The Tendring Hundred School Centred Initial Teacher Training scheme began in 2006 and has trained about 100 primary teachers.

The number of places on the course, based in Chase Lane Primary School, has risen from 20 to 24 and the number of applicants is as great as it was five years ago.

Despite the education sector’s massive cutbacks, the course appeals to recent graduates and people looking for a career change.

Sally Blunden, 34, left her career as a freelance financial administrator to enroll on the year-long course.

The mother-of-two from Holland-on-Sea admitted it was a risk to give up her career of 13 years to retrain, especially with the squeeze on public sector finances.

She said: “It was a huge decision. It wasn’t just difficult for me, it affected the whole family.

“I was sat in my office at home and it wasn’t as rewarding – this is so rewarding.”

Rachel Robertson, 24, gave up her career in PR to become a teacher.

The Leeds Metropolitan graduate, who lives in Crouch Street, Colchester, signed up for the course because she did not want to go through another year at university.

Mrs Robertson said: “Everyone on the course was really driven.

“On my course only a couple didn’t get jobs out of the 20 of us.”

Several of the graduates have ended up working in the schools where they were placed during their studies.

Claire Johns, 25, of South Street, Manningtree, works as a Year Two teacher in Chase Lane Primary, where the centre is based.

Originally from Worcester, she completed the course two years ago and was offered a job by the school while she was travelling in Australia.

She said: “I changed my flight to come back early. Jobs aren’t that easy to come by and I thought it would be a bit ridiculous to pass on the opportunity.”

Christine Watkins, co-founder, said the course had helped tackle a shortage of teachers in north Essex.

She said: “When I was headteacher of Frobisher Primary School, in Jaywick, I was going to Canada to get teachers. Some of the teachers we trained are now mentors for the new students.

“We have quite a good track record and I am delighted it’s going well.”

Lynn Walker, programme manager, hopes the scheme will continue to expand, or at least hold on to the 24 places that are partly subsidised by the Government.

She said: “The Government is very keen on school-based teacher training, things are changing.

“The retention and recruitment of teachers in this area was very difficult and when this started in 2006, the Government wasn’t giving any more primary school training places out. We had to take places from other centres in Harlow and Suffolk.”

l Open Evenings on the programme will take place in Chase Lane Primary, Dovercourt on Wednesday, October 12, Oakwood Infant School, Clacton, on Tuesday, October 18 and Broomgrove Junior School, Wivenhoe, on Wednesday, November 2. All evenings begin at 7pm.