ATL

Shock, horror, most teachers support status quo on pay - ATL

4 May 2012

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:

"Shock, horror, most teachers support the status quo on pay!  It is hard not to be under whelmed by the Sutton Trust's research showing that the majority of teachers support the current pay arrangements, which mean no teachers move up the pay scale in their first five years if they are performing poorly. 

"The surprises are the omissions in the report and the spin in the headline of the Sutton Trust's press release.  They omit to say that once teachers have reached the top of their main pay scale any further pay rises are already linked to taking on more responsibility or the assessment of their headteacher.  They also omit to highlight their own findings that most teachers quite sensibly would like schools to use a range of methods to judge their performance. 

"ATL firmly believes that trying to make a crude link between teachers' pay and performance is nonsensical.  The range and complexity of factors affecting how well pupils do at school make it impossible to create a workable formula linking an individual teacher's performance and a pupil's achievement, not least because so much teaching is about teamwork."

ends

Notes to editors

1. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is an independent, registered trade union and professional association, representing approximately 160,000 teachers, headteachers, lecturers and support staff in maintained and independent nurseries, schools, sixth form, tertiary and further education colleges in the United Kingdom.

2. ATL exists to help members, as their careers develop, through first rate research, advice, information and legal advice.

3. ATL is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and Education International (EI). ATL is not affiliated to any political party and seeks to work constructively with all the main political parties.