Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said: “The publication of the School Teachers’
Review Body report and the Secretary of State’s response
are, once again, extremely late having been delayed by the
general election period of ‘purdah’. This has led to unnecessary
uncertainty for teachers and made financial planning for schools
more difficult than it needed to be at a time when budgets are
already under considerable strain.
“Even more disappointing, however, is that these pay awards have
been once again kept within the government’s self-imposed 1% pay
cap. This means teachers are facing a seventh year of real-terms
pay cuts at a time when we are in a full-blown recruitment
crisis. The STRB acknowledges that there is ‘a real risk that
schools will not be able to recruit and retain a workforce of
high quality teachers to support pupil achievement’. Furthermore,
schools are expected to fund these awards without any additional
funding from the government, and this comes at a time when
budgets are under severe strain because of real-terms reductions.
“The current situation is unsustainable and the government is
playing fast and loose with children’s education. We call on
ministers to invest more in the education of our pupils, and
thereby our future prosperity, by ensuring that pay awards are
fully funded and help address the issue of teacher shortages.”
