12 September 2003
Teaching unions have attacked the government for trying to limit the number of teachers receiving salary rises through performance-related pay, claiming that this will have a 'devastating' effect on morale.
The unions have issued the stark warning in their evidence to the School Teachers' Review Body, which advises the government on pay and conditions, submitted on September 11.
The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, which submitted joint evidence with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said ministers were mistaken if they thought the workload agreement meant pay had become less of an issue.
The Department for Education and Skills, in its evidence to the STRB submitted in July, called for a limit to the number of teachers who already receive PRP being given a further point on the upper pay spine.
The department suggested giving awards to about one-third of those eligible, and suggested using 'excellence criteria', similar to those used for identifying advanced skills teachers, to establish who would qualify.
But Eamonn O'Kane, NASUWT general secretary, said pay remained 'crucial' in tackling recruitment and retention problems. 'The joint evidence makes a powerful case for safeguarding the right for all teachers, who continue to meet the competencies standards, to move up the upper pay scale.
'To restrict the number of eligible teachers to a quota will have a devastating effect on morale and motivation.'
The National Union of Teachers, which submitted its evidence separately from the other unions, echoed this concern. Its submission accused the department of 'breaking its promise' to teachers.
'This will have one effect and one effect only: the most experienced teachers in the education service will be demoralised.'
The NUT also took issue with the DfES's suggestion that the external validation of head teachers' decisions on which teachers had passed the PRP threshold should be scrapped.
Its submission said the move would 'undermine the objectivity' of the process, which in turn had helped to keep the number of appeals relatively low.
NUT general secretary Doug McAvoy urged the STRB to stand firm. 'The review body must live up to its responsibilities and recommend changes that really will recruit, retain and motivate teachers. It should tell the government what is needed, not what it wants to hear.'
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