22 March 2002
Following its conference last weekend, the Secondary Heads Association has joined forces with the National Association of Head Teachers to agree a ballot on boycotting the performance-pay regime, which they say is underfunded to the tune of £60m this year.
The unions are demanding £1bn over the next six years to implement the regime, which awards extra pay to experienced teachers as they move up the pay scales.
Despite an appeal by lifelong learning minister Margaret Hodge to avoid industrial action – 'an act of destruction' in her words – SHA general secretary John Dunford told the conference: 'There is a distinction between strike action that will damage children and a boycott of a badly planned government initiative'.
Bob Carstairs, the assistant general secretary of the SHA, told Public Finance: 'The majority of head teachers think it is appalling that they are expected to deal with this issue without adequate funding. Coupled with the fact that there is no criteria for assessing teachers who meet the performance-pay requirements, there are a lot of heads saying "enough is enough".'
The government is hoping to keep dialogue open. A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: 'We have given them great flexibility over the scheme and it is their decision how to proceed. Sometimes managers must make difficult decisions.'
In a separate debate at the close of the SHA conference on March 17, John Dunford warned the government that the exams system was 'overloaded', with exam boards 'buckling under pressure'.
PFmar2002