STRB must not feel constrained by remit letter, says ASCL

Commenting on the remit letter for 2024 from Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to Dr Mike Aldred, chair of the School Teachers’ Review Body, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“The School Teachers’ Review Body must not feel constrained by this remit letter and must recommend a pay award for 2024/25 at a level that is sufficient to address the worsening teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

“Gillian Keegan tells the STRB to have regard to the cost pressures that schools are facing in its recommendation. However, those cost pressures are a problem of the government’s making as a result of its failure to allocate any additional money to schools in the autumn statement.

“The STRB must assert its independence as it did for 2023/24. And the government must ensure that there is sufficient money available to schools to meet the cost of the pay award that the STRB recommends.

“Every ambition and target for children’s education depends on having enough teachers to teach them – and at present that is very far from being the case.”