The consequences of paying teacher by results

The education secretary chose the closing days of last term to publish the 21st report of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) on the teachers’ pay system for England and Wales and his response to its recommendations.

He declared that “subject to the views of consultees, I intend to accept all of the recommendations”. Then, on a matter which is of critical and fundamental importance to almost half a million teachers, he allowed only 12 working days for consultees to respond, demonstrating that once again this secretary of state has no interest in genuine or meaningful consultation.

It was disappointing to note that the STRB’s recommendations were at variance with the views of other public service review bodies which reported at the same time. All other review bodies confirmed the importance of retaining a national pay framework, but the STRB opted for pay flexibilities and discretions for individual schools which are so wide-ranging that, if adopted, the only guarantee on salary for any teacher is the minimum starting salary.