Teacher pay award

On 1st July the DfE announced the teacher pay award for 206-2027 and 2027-2028. On a positive note the award is 6.5% over the next 2 years with additional funding of £1.8 billion over 2 years. The negative aspect of this is that schools will be expected to meet the first 1% out of existing budgets, increasing pressures on schools that are, in many cases, already stretched to breaking point. You can read DfE’s announcement here.

Perhaps unsurprisingly this hasn’t been welcomed by unions. Matt Wrack, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said: “The proposals on teacher pay fall well short of what is required to support the continued delivery of a world class education service.” Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: n“Pressure from the NEU has forced the government beyond its original pay and funding offer. But let us be clear: a partially funded settlement still means cuts to education, and the NEU will never accept that. Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, noted “However, at an individual school and college level the implications will vary and it will be very challenging for many schools to find money from their existing budgets in the way that is required.” Finally, the NAHT commented ““It is helpful that the government is bringing some additional funding to support schools, but we need to be clear that this is not a fully-funded award and it will mean more pressure on already stretched budgets. There is very little headroom in existing budgets and talk of ‘maximising value’ is deeply unhelpful.”