Teachers' pay

Education secretary Ruth Kelly has responded to the 14th report by the School Teachers' Review Body. Under the reforms to the pay structure, teachers' rewards will be more closely linked to effective teaching and learning.

 

Government Response: Department for Education and Skills

 

Ruth Kelly, secretary of state for education and skills, said:  "These proposed reforms form a key plank in taking forward workforce remodelling. The changes provide an opportunity for schools to organise their teaching and learning responsibilities in a new way.

 

"They will focus on the professionalism of all teachers and enable rewards to be given for tasks which have a real impact in raising pupil attainment and the professional practice of other teachers."

 

Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers (NUT)

 

Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said: "Overall the proposed changes to the teachers’ salary structure fail to meet the needs of schools.

 

"Thousands of teachers face a pay cut and loss of status as a result of the government’s introduction of teaching and learning responsibility payments. Management allowances are also to disappear under this new scheme. The change will create unnecessary upheaval in schools.

 

"As the second largest organisation of headteachers, the u nion is well aware that the excellent teachers scheme [ETS] creates an arbitrary and false dichotomy between ETS holders and those teachers with professional leadership responsibilities.

 

"Teachers with professional leadership responsibility and associated payments will not understand why they should be excluded from the ETS, and there will be problems in relating such posts to management roles.

 

"The intention to limit safeguarding to three years will make the already difficult job of reorganizing schools still more thorny.

 

"The review body recommended that the NUT should be included without pre-condition in all future talks on teachers’ pay and salary structure. It also recommended the union’s inclusion in discussion on teachers’ professional development.

 

"The government has yet to accept these recommendations. The union will strongly demand that they are implemented and the union fully involved in these discussions."

 

Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers andLecturers (ATL)

 

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "For the first time, as a result of the RIG [Rewards and Incentives Group] proposals, teachers have a transparent and robust framework in which to implement the new pay and rewards structure.

 

"The STRB [School Teachers' Review Body] proposals endorse the principle of workforce remodelling – focussing the professional knowledge and expertise of teachers on the real work of raising standards of attainment in schools.

 

"ATL is already working with its members to secure consistent application of the new framework in schools. Proper implementation is vital, and no school should pre-empt the statutory guidance that will be released shortly after Easter."

 

Stakeholder Response: NASUWT

 

Chris Keates, general secretary of teachers' and headteachers' union NASUWT, said: "Months of detailed work went into formulating the joint evidence submitted by NASUWT, other unions, the DfES, and the national employers for consideration by the review body.  It is gratifying to note that in large part the review body has recommended its acceptance.

 

"The structure recommended in the report will introduce a pay system which at long last rewards teachers for their skill and expertise in teaching and leading teaching and learning.

 

"These developments are a natural consequence to the recent changes to the teacher’s contract and are a further crucial step in enhancing and recognising the professional status of teachers.

 

"Teachers now have a clear choice of career pathways, all of which lead to higher salaries.

 

"The introduction of national criteria for the award of the teaching and learning responsibility payments combined with the statutory requirement for all schools to have a pay policy and to publish a staffing structure will bring long-overdue clarity, transparency and fairness to pay decisions which in too many cases have been inconsistent, unfair and shrouded in mystery.

 

"Mandatory safeguarding will replace the inconsistent and inequitable current discretionary provisions.

 

"The deferment of consideration of local pay in favour of maintaining a national pay framework which allows sufficient flexibility to meet local needs will be welcomed by teachers and headteachers.

 

"NASUWT and the other unions which produced the joint evidence are committed to ensuring that schools, headteachers, and teachers are provided with detailed advice and all necessary support to assist in the transition to the new system."