NASUWT: TPriority motion: Protecting Teachers – Defending Education
Commenting after the priority motion, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:
“The Government’s proposals to dismantle the national pay system, end mandatory pay scales for teachers and link their pay ever closer to appraisal will be disastrous for education. These measures will hit teacher recruitment and retention, demotivate teachers and waste time and money in schools. A YouGov survey, commissioned by the NUT, shows that the majority of parents support the continuation of a national pay system for teachers.
“The teachers’ pay system already has significant links to performance. But the Government’s new policy will hit at new recruits in the first years of teaching and hamper recruitment.
“Parents know, as will governors and head teachers, that time in schools should be spent on children’s learning, not on determining the detail of teachers’ pay in 25,000 separate institutions. This will cause chaos in our schools, which should be focussed on education not sorting out pay.
“OECD evidence shows that there is no link between pupil performance and the use of Performance Related Pay. Teaching is a collaborative profession. The performance of pupils in one class is very much dependent on the work of the teacher in the previous year.
“With teachers leaving the profession year on year and those who remain suffering plummeting morale, no wonder there has been widespread loss of confidence in the Secretary of State. Teaching is one the best professions in the world but it is also one of the hardest. Teachers should not be subjected to persistent criticism and undermining of their pay, pensions and conditions.
“If the Government does not enter into meaningful discussion on these matters the NUT and the NASUWT will start a rolling programme of strike action with a strike in the North West of England on 27 June, and continuing around England and Wales, with a national strike in the second half of the autumn term. Teachers do not take strike action lightly but when the profession is being torn apart by a Government whose reforms have little to do with standards, or evidence, or a good education for all, then the time to sit back has to end.
“We are asking Michael Gove to set up a series of meetings with the NUT and NASUWT to address the issues in our dispute. Publication of the valuation of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme is long overdue. This should be published immediately.
“This strike action is avoidable, our demands are very reasonable. The hallmark of successful education systems is one where government works with, rather than against their teaching professions.”
END pr48-2013
For further information contact Caroline Cowie on 0207 380 4706 or 07879480061
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Editor’s Note:
The teachers’ pay system already has significant links to performance as follows:
1) Progression at the end of the first year in teaching (usually from M1-M2) is dependent on meeting the standards required to complete induction.
2) Progression from M6 to UPS1 is dependent on meeting post-threshold standards.
3) Progression from UPS1 to UPS2 and UPS3 is dependent on continuing to meet post-threshold standards.
4) Progression from M2 to M6 can be refused where the teacher’s performance is judged to be unsatisfactory.
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