NEU comments on Teacher Pay

Commenting on a story in The Times today, predicting that a 2.75% pay increase for teachers will be announced next Monday, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

“Leaving this teachers' pay announcement until the very end of term is incredibly inconsiderate to head teachers planning for next year, and to teachers who just want to know where they stand. 

“This pay increase isn’t enough.  Even at 2.75%, teacher pay will again fall in real terms compared to CPI inflation and fall further behind pay increases in the wider economy, when a worsening recruitment and retention crisis means we need urgent action to restore the pay losses since 2010 and make teacher pay competitive with pay for other graduate professions.

“If the pay rise isn’t funded in full this will mean more cuts to our children’s education. Just as the Education Committee today condemns the Government for a lack of long-term strategy on school funding, the Department for Education is also short-term in its thinking on pay. We need a serious solution to the recruitment and retention crisis in teaching.”