Too much too soon for teachers?

In what is being seen as a move to prevent a repeat of this year's funding crisis in schools, he says teachers deserve good pay but that the overall bill must be affordable.

Teachers are accusing him of a panic reaction to the funding crisis and heads say limiting the number on top pay would be "highly demotivating".

Mr Clarke was speaking about the government's recommendation to the body which advises him on teachers' pay and conditions in England and Wales.

At a meeting with head teachers in Norfolk, he said: "It is right that teachers' pay keeps its value.

"But pay must be affordable too. We must balance it against the rest of our investment, including in reforming the way teachers work."

He says teachers' pay should move in line with inflation but that head teachers should not push so many teachers up to the top of the pay scale.

'Unsustainable

Under changes brought in 2000, experienced teachers can apply for a performance-related bonus of �2,000, known as passing the "threshold".

After that, teachers can move up to the top of the pay scale to �30,000 a year (or �35,673 in inner London).

But the government says too many teachers have been allowed to go to this pay level too quickly. This is something which should have happened to some teachers, over time, it argues.

In evidence to the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB), Mr Clarke said: "To carry on as schools have done ...would by 2009 add �700m per annum to school cost pressures in England.

"This is unsustainable and expenditure on this scale was neither promised nor envisaged when David Blunkett undertook to introduce an upper pay scale."

'Draconian measures'

His call for limits angered the biggest teaching union, the NUT.

The union's general secretary, Doug McAvoy, said: "The government's demand that progress on the upper pay scale should be cash limited confirms all our arguments against performance-related pay.

"The position of the government demonstrates it is not concerned with recruitment and retention of teachers.

"It makes no allowance for teachers' pay to compete with other graduate employment."

The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, David Hart, said the government was wrong in its approach.

More experienced teachers can apply for the extra money

"Although something has to be done to stop the escalating performance-related pay bill, we fear that the draconian steps taken by the government to slash the number of teachers moving up the performance-related pay scale will be an enormous culture shock and highly demotivating," he said.

Gerald Imison, joint acting general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Such major issues require time and one would have expected much earlier notification rather than having what smacks of a panic reaction to the current funding crisis.

"Rushing things now is more likely to exacerbate the problems of financial planning rather than provide a measured and carefully thought-through response to current difficulties."

The Secondary Heads Association welcomed the extra guidance on pay, saying the present system was not manageable.

General secretary John Dunford said: "We cannot continue with the present upper pay spine arrangements, in which the combination of weak criteria and inadequate funding has made it almost impossible for heads to administer the system."

Increasing teachers' pay was a major plank of the government's campaign to recruit and retain teachers.

In addition, Mr Clarke told the pay review body that there should be a pay settlement of at least two years, to allow head teachers to plan their finances.

Teachers' wages typically take at least 80% of a school's budget. Head teachers' associations have also called for a two-year settlement.

After hearing evidence from the government, representatives of teachers, head teachers and the local government employers, the pay review body makes recommendations on teachers' pay and conditions.

The government generally accepts them.

Last year the review body rejected the government's call for a three-year settlement.