Almost 34,000 teachers have responded to a National Education
Union pay survey, which shows alarming levels of dissatisfaction
both with levels of pay and with the performance related pay
(PRP) system in schools.
The survey shows:
• 70% of respondents
are thinking of leaving the teaching profession due to poor
levels of pay or the PRP system.
• An overwhelming
majority of respondents feel underpaid compared to contemporaries
in other graduate professions. 79% believe that their pay was
less or significantly less than what they would expect given
their job weight, role and responsibilities.
• Almost half
of teachers (42%) had not yet received a cost-of-living
increase for September 2018, with 18% of respondents already
having been told they would definitely not be getting one.
Teachers’ unhappiness with the pay system was also demonstrated
by the following findings:
• 90% of those denied
progression up their pay scale said that the decision was unfair,
and 92% had been given no indication during the year that they
were not meeting the standards for progression, contrary to
Government guidance.
• The overwhelming
majority (79%) were not, however, going to appeal, with many
saying that it would be a waste of time and have undesirable
consequences.
• Teachers who had been
pregnant or on maternity leave during the previous year were
almost twice as likely to be denied progression (19% compared to
11% overall) with half being explicitly told this was the reason
they had been denied progression.
• 19% of those denied
progression were told that this was explicitly due to funding
issues rather than performance issues, a figure which has been
rising steadily in recent years.
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
“In the interests of teachers, parents and children the
Government must now take heed and act. PRP is not suitable
for schools – it promotes unfairness and inequality and makes pay
determination costlier and more bureaucratic.
“The Government’s proposed 2% increase would be yet another
real-terms pay cut and yet more fuel for the teacher supply
crisis. The NEU and other unions have jointly called for a
5% increase supported by additional funding. The Government
must realise that education funding needs to be increased to
reverse the cuts for teachers’ pay and all the other cuts that
schools have had to make in recent years.
“Alongside a fully-funded increase of 5% for every teacher, we
need a national, fair and transparent framework for teacher
pay.”
Editor’s Note:
The survey, conducted in December 2018, attracted almost 34,000
responses. The results have been published to coincide with
the NEU’s submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body, in
support of its play claim for an immediate 5% increase for all
teachers. The full survey report is attached.
