Tensions between education unions and government are rising once again after the DfE’s plea for restraint over teacher pay came hot on the heels of ‘catastrophic’ teacher recruitment figures. Pete Henshaw takes a look at the fall-out
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Anger is rising once again within education unions who are incensed after the Department for Education (DfE) effectively called for restraint for September’s pay award.

In its remit letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) – which was delivered much later than usual on December 20 – the DfE took pains to remind the pay body of “cost pressures that schools are facing” when it considers pay from September.

The National Education Union (NEU) fears that the DfE is now pushing for a September pay award of just 1% or 2%.

That the remit letter landed two weeks after initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment figures had revealed a 50% shortfall against the secondary education target only served to raise tensions further.

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