Education and Skills Secretary Alan Johnson has announced proposals for changes to teachers' pay and conditions to ensure they remain competitive and attract the best candidates.
The proposed changes, based on the recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body, include the following:
* financial incentives for completion of accredited qualifications in priority subjects;
* increasing use of existing local flexibilities to reward teachers and address local teacher shortages in priority subjects;
* detailed review of the labour market and current practice in the provision of SEN services;
* spot salaries of Excellent Teacher Scheme (ETS) posts should have regard and be related to the work to be undertaken and the degree of challenge of the role. Any further review of ETS salaries should be as part of any wider review of salaries;
* development of provisions to stipulate within the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document how pro-rata salaries for part-time teachers should be calculated and working time specified for classroom teachers and members of the Fast track scheme, ASTs and leadership posts;
* to ensure that all progression on incremental pay scales follow a performance management review and that a teacher’s performance has satisfied explicit performance-related criteria; and
* production of new statements of teachers’ professional roles and responsibilities focused on, among other stipulations, maintaining high standards and pupil outcomes.
Alan Johnson said:
“I am very grateful to the STRB for the careful and detailed attention to these very important matters affecting teachers’ pay and conditions’. I strongly believe that we have a world class workforce in place. They are the ones pushing forward our programme of reform and ensuring year on year improvements across the board.
“Teaching is both a challenging and rewarding job and it’s right that we recognise this in the pay and conditions that we give them. We have increased pay by 18 per cent in real terms since 1997 to reflect this. It is vital that we continue to offer a competitive package in a strong economy.”
