Teacher pay 'to be linked to pupils' results and behaviour'
Teachers should be denied pay rises for failing to improve pupils’ exam results, keep order in the classroom or take part in extra-curricular activities, according to Government guidance.
5:13PM BST 16 Apr 2013
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Head teachers should refuse to authorise annual salary increases for staff who struggle to make a decent “contribution to the work of the school” as part of a new system of performance-related pay, it is claimed.
In a document published today, schools are told to consider assessing teachers relative to other staff, giving the very highest salaries to those classed among the top five or 10 per cent of performers.
It also suggests that individual staff members could be enlisted to “appraise the performance of other teachers”.
The advice was made after the Government approved controversial plans to abolish annual pay rises based on length of service earlier this year.
From September, heads will be given complete freedom to pay the best teachers more money within a minimum and maximum threshold.
The move has been savaged by teaching unions which claim the system will create tensions in the staffroom, damage teachers’ morale and lead to heads rewarding “compliance” rather than good performance.
But a Coalition source said: "It's madness that a terrible teacher can be paid more than a good teacher just because they are older and have been teaching longer.
“The teaching unions damage children's lives and the reputation of the teaching profession by defending a system that rewards failure.”
On Tuesday, the Department for Education published a 30-page briefing document setting out how individual schools can run new salary structures.
Schools should consider a number of factors when assessing a teacher's work, including their impact on pupils' academic progress and specific elements of classroom practice such as “behaviour management or lesson planning”, the document said.
Officials also suggested that pay should be used to mark out “wider contribution to the work of the school”, which could include work outside the classroom such as extra-curricular activities.
The document also says schools should:
• Stage annual appraisals before setting out salary levels and heads should be “free to withhold progression pay” without initiating wider grievance procedures for underperformance;
• Consider giving certain teachers “responsibilities to appraise the performance of other teachers”;
• No longer be forced to match an existing teacher’s salary when hiring a new staff member from another school;
• Pay more money to “leading practitioners” who take extra responsibilities such as coaching student teachers, carrying out research and helping colleagues in difficulty;
• Consider setting pay relative to other teachers in the school, marking out a certain percentage for the highest pay.
The National Union of Teachers and the NASUWT union have already announced plans for a series of strikes in the summer and autumn terms in protest over changes to pay.
Speaking today, Christine Blower, NUT general secretary, said the latest reforms “could deter graduates from entering teaching, restrict serving teachers’ ability to move jobs and cause many to leave teaching if they are unfairly deprived of pay progression by decisions which ignore their contribution to their school but focus instead on funding pressure or whether the teacher’s face fits”.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said the Government was “determined to press ahead with the reckless pursuit of changes to the national pay framework which will heap further misery onto teac
