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School Teachers' Review Body: Tenth Report 2001 Summary Our report makes recommendations in respect of school teachers in England and Wales on:
We comment on the use of the new pay opportunities and flexibilities, on funding, workload and teacher supply, and on the implications of recent constitutional and legal developments. This summary is necessarily very brief, but we hope that our full report will be widely read. Schools can obtain printed copies from the DfEE. It is also available on the DfEE website http://www.dfee.gov.uk/teachingreforms/rewards/teacherspay/strb2001 Underlying As usual, our report first examines key features of the situation in schools. Funding The overall financial picture is improving. If centrally announced increases for LEA funding are passed through to schools, and if they in turn make effective use of this and other funding, they should be in a better position than in recent years to implement pay and staffing improvements. Workload There are more teachers and other staff in schools but workload pressures, and their adverse impact on morale and recruitment, continue to be a major concern. Our latest survey of the total hours worked by teachers shows further increases. Some action has been taken, but more needs to be done to tackle the problems involved including: a containment of the flow of initiatives; a rigorous review of associated administrative tasks; and more training in such matters as time management and the organisation of meetings. We propose that the DfEE should organise an independent programme to look at the workload of classroom teachers in a sample of schools. This should focus on the factors which contribute to excessive workload and determine priorities for change. In this context, we do not support claims for statutory restrictions on hours. Teacher supply Sharply increased concerns have been reported over the recruitment position in schools in various parts of the country and the consequent effects on the quality of learning. The staffing problems of many London schools, frequently related to high housing costs, are of particular concern. We have reviewed the levels of London allowance and also welcome specific initiatives to help teachers with housing costs. Our pay recommendations address the need for more attractive starting salaries for classroom teachers. These - together with the improved salary prospects - should play a major role in encouraging more good graduates to choose teaching as a career, either at graduation or at a later stage. This will help to meet future needs, which will be a continuing challenge as many teachers retire over the next ten years. In the secondary sector, where shortfalls in recruitment into initial teacher training continue to be a cause for concern, the new financial incentives in the form of training salaries or grants, and golden hellos for particular shortage subjects, are already having an impact. Further efforts to attract teachers not currently in teaching to return will also be necessary. All of this will need close monitoring over the next few years. Development of the pay Implementation of the programme of structural change is in hand, both for classroom teachers and leadership group members. We are encouraged by the very high proportion of eligible classroom teachers who initially applied to cross the performance threshold to the new upper pay spine, giving a £2,001 uplift to those successful and the opportunity to progress to a salary of some £30,000 before other allowances. This major exercise was a challenge to school management as well as teachers, to which both responded very positively. We are also encouraged by examples of schools which have already seized the opportunities offered by the new leadership group arrangements, not just to improve the salary prospects of their heads, deputies and, in larger schools, newly designated assistant heads, but also to review the structure of responsibilities and ways of working of their senior management group. Main pay scale We commend to schools the new scope to advance teachers quickly up the main pay scale through the award of double increments for excellent performance. Threshold The Secretary of State accepted our special report recommendation last October that the DfEE should commission a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of the threshold standards and procedures for access to the new upper pay scale for classroom teachers. This will be available for consideration during our next review. Accordingly, no further comment is made on these matters in our report. Upper pay scale We strongly believe that the arrangements for the upper pay scale must be kept as simple and straightforward as possible with progression based on "continued substantial and sustained performance and contribution to the school"; this should be seen in the general context of the threshold criteria. We do not support the inclusion of an additional reference to "progressively more challenging standards", although teachers should be contributing to an ongoing general improvement in educational achievement and be committed to their own continuing professional development. Progress on the scale should reflect the total contribution of the teacher, including the achievement of specific targets. We confirm that teachers should normally progress at intervals of two or more years, with more frequent awards for exceptional contribution. We endorse the need for appropriate and sustained funding to support the new arrangements and welcome the indications given that money will be available for progression on the upper pay scale and for other pay discretions. This is essential. We agree that the threshold uplift should, once awarded, be retained as a permanent entitlement. While we have accepted in principle that the same should apply to the further points on the upper pay scale, this raises complex issues for teachers who wish to move to another school. We will return to this matter in our next report. We do not believe that there should be scope for points to be withdrawn. Schools should rely on existing arrangements for handling questions of professional competence. Recruitment and retention allowances We support the extension of the use of recruitment and retention allowances. With better overall funding, more use should be made of them by schools which have difficulty in attracting or keeping staff. They should be extended in scope and be more widely available to schools in challenging circumstances, possibly in the form of a bonus paid on completion of a specified period of employment. Special educational needs allowances We believe, on recruitment grounds, that SEN allowance 1 should be retained as a mandatory entitlement for teachers in special schools and should be paid on the same basis to teachers appointed to SEN units in mainstream schools. However, for teachers generally in mainstream schools we are attracted to a more flexible discretionary approach on lines proposed by the DfEE, supported by effective use of the standards produced by the TTA. The award of SEN allowance 2 should remain on a discretionary basis in all settings. Leadership group Many schools are still working on the development of their leadership group within the new structure. The experience of some who have completed the process is encouraging, but it is too early to reach firm conclusions. We will return to the various issues raised with us - mainly by the two headteacher associations - in our next review in the light of fuller survey evidence of how the new arrangements are working. ASTs and fast track We recommend that the standards and procedures being used previously for the selection of ASTs should continue to apply. We also recommend that the detailed selection standards and processes for the new fast track programme should be determined by the DfEE in consultation with interested parties. General pay levels The new pay structures and related funding will do a great deal to improve the average earnings of teachers. It remains vital, however, that underlying pay levels are sufficient to recruit, retain and motivate all the teachers needed to achieve the challenging targets for improvement set by the Government. Our recommendations also reflect particular concern on this occasion about the starting rate for new teachers and the need for a substantial improvement in London allowances. Taking all factors into account, our pay level recommendations from 1 April 2001 are for:
The recommendation for a minimum starting salary of £17,001 for a new entrant with a good honours degree represents a rise of 5.9 per cent. The increase we recommend in London allowances will mean that such a new entrant in inner London will have a minimum starting salary of £20,001, a rise of 8.9 per cent. Wide-ranging pay reforms are taking place. Our aim is to keep pay and related arrangements as simple as possible - but introducing flexibilities in ways which teachers will see as fair does present challenges. There is a continuing need for training and ongoing support and for a period of stability to enable what have been major changes to settle in. We emphasise the crucial importance of adequate funding. Headroom above the cost of general increases in pay levels will continue to be needed if the new opportunities and flexibilities are to become a reality. Equally important will be action along the lines we propose for achieving some easing of workloads. The momentum for steady progress on all these fronts must not be lost. Provided it is sustained, and a continued raising of pupil achievement is reflected in an enhanced image of teaching, we are confident of real improvement in the next few years in the stature and attractiveness of the profession.
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