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Government to press ahead with performance pay for school teachers

PUBLIC SECTOR

Government to press ahead with performance pay for school teachers

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has announced that the government is pressing ahead with the introduction of performance-related pay for school teachers in England and Wales, despite fierce opposition from some teaching unions.

Last month, the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which makes recommendations to government on teachers’ pay reforms, called on the government to link teachers’ pay in England and Wales more closely to their performance. In its report, published 5 December 2012, the STRB recommended a “simpler, more flexible national pay framework” for teachers.

Unions representing headteachers have broadly welcomed the plans, but warned that if performance-related is to be successful, the right timing, training and funding will be vital.

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From September 2013, a “new simpler, more flexible national pay framework” for teachers will come into effect. It will:

  • end pay increases based on length of service - currently virtually all full time classroom teachers on the main pay scale automatically progress to the next pay point
  • link all teachers’ pay progression to performance, based on annual appraisals
  • abolish mandatory pay points within the pay scales for classroom teachers to “give schools greater freedom on how much teachers are paid”; Department for Education says: “They would remain in place for reference only in the main pay scale to guide career expectations for new teachers entering the profession”
  • retain the higher pay bands for London and fringe areas.

Reaction from teaching unions

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said:

"Teachers will be dismayed that Michael Gove is pressing ahead with his plans to dismantle the national teacher pay structure. It will certainly worsen teacher morale which, as shown in a recent YouGov survey commissioned by the NUT, is already low. Some 25,000 schools deciding their own pay structures is a real distraction from the teaching and learning that should be the focus of schools' work. Individual pay decisions will result in unfairness and less mobility in the teacher job market.

"PRP is fundamentally inappropriate for teaching, where educational outcomes are based on teamwork and the cumulative contribution of a number of teachers. The national pay structure provides a coherent framework for career progression and is essential to attract graduates into the profession. To get rid of it will certainly have an impact on recruitment and retention."

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:

"This announcement was entirely predictable. The Secretary of State never intended to do anything other than accept these recommendations. The consultation on the recommendations has been nothing but a sham. It is only six working days since detailed responses were submitted to the Department for Education, a timescale which in itself indicates there can have been no attempt to give the important points made serious consideration.

"From now on the only pay existing teachers can expect is the salary they are on. New entrants to the profession can aspire no higher than their starting salary. At a time of severe economic austerity and where there is already stark evidence that schools are using existing pay flexibilities to deny teachers pay progression however well they perform, the claim that these recommendations will result in good teachers being paid more is risible.”

Want to know more?

More details about the government proposals are available on the Department for Education web site at www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00220137/more-freedom-on-teachers%27-pay.