Commenting on Education Secretary Gillian
Keegan’s evidence to the
School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) about the 2024/25 pay award,
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said:
“It is disappointing that the government has followed up its
failure to meet the deadline for submitting its evidence to the
pay review body with a belated submission that is an exercise in
complacency.
“Unusually, the government has chosen not to set out the level of
pay award it considers affordable – presumably because there
isn’t actually enough money in the education system to afford
very much at all. It has instead vaguely suggested that the
recruitment and retention picture and economic context justify a
pay award that is lower than last year’s pay award.
“In reality, the recruitment and retention picture is a disaster
with schools across the country continuing to experience severe
teacher shortages in many subjects, and teacher pay has failed to
keep pace with rising costs over the past decade making it
uncompetitive in the graduate market.
“The STRB must now assert its independence – as it did last year
– by recommending a pay award that addresses these issues and
ensures that children and young people have the teachers they
need. And the government must ensure schools can afford the pay
award necessary for this purpose – beginning with the investment
in education that is so clearly needed in next week’s spring
budget.”
