The Department for Education has issued guidance to schools on how to implement the planned performance-related-pay regime from September 2013.
Automatic pay increases will be replaced with discretionary rewards based on teachers’ annual appraisals. The national pay scale will be retained only as a point of reference. The new system will also abolish teachers’ right to retain the same pay level when starting a job in a new school. The guidelines also say the opinions of pupils and parents can be taken into account when appraising teachers’ performance, as well as participation in after-school activities and whether a teacher works longer hours.
Some Academies, which already have the right to set their own pay scales, already operate a form of performance-related-pay. The Capital City Academy in Brent, northwest London, pays up to £1,400 a year to teachers who take part in three or more hours of extracurricular activity each week.
In a letter to the School Teachers Review Body, Education Secretary Michael Gove has indicated he plans further attacks on terms and conditions as well as pay. The 1,265-hour annual limit on directed hours, limits on covering for absence, and teachers’ guarantee of at least 10% preparation, planning, and assessment time could all be under threat.
Members of the NUT and NASUWT teaching unions in the North West region will strike on 27 June against the performance-related-pay regime.
Activists in LANAC, a rank-and-file network with NUT, are pushing for the strike to be expanded and escalated as soon as possible.