£1,000 bonus targets school elitism - graduate jobs

The best-qualified teaching graduates placed in the toughest state schools are each bringing a £1,000 bonus to their training college in an attempt to break the stranglehold the leafy suburbs have over the best teachers.

Top universities often place new teachers in "safe middle class" schools, compounding the problems lower-performing schools have in recruiting teachers.

Graham Holley, who heads the Training and Development Agency for schools, said the bonus scheme is designed to break the monopoly well-to-do schools have over top trainees.

"Universities have resisted placing teachers in more challenging schools. They did it because it was safer in terms of it being an easy placement to make, the trainee will be unlikely to have any problems with children because they come from safe middle class backgrounds but this isn't really good enough for a trainee. I understand that motivation but it's one we need to break," he said.

The agency is also developing plans to make a masters in teaching available to all teachers. A pilot in the North West will be launched this year and then expanded to all heads of departments in "challenging" schools.