Teachers' pay must be linked to performance, says the Department for Education, as the government pushes to modernise public services.

In its annual submission to the School Teachers Review Body, the Department for Education said teachers could not expect an above-inflation pay increase next year.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul will cut no ice with teachers

Doug McAvoy, NUT

The evidence confirmed the government's preference for a three-year pay deal.

The department is also considering giving individual schools more power to set pay rates for their staff.

The stance has angered teachers' unions which have called for substantial increases in pay for teachers.

But the department said: "The government is strongly of the view that the priority for this year is not a general increase in pay above the rate of inflation but instead action to promote workforce reform and tackle workload issues."

Union anger

Teachers' unions expressed anger at the government's stance.

"The government shows no understanding of the causes of the shortfall in the numbers of young people entering and staying in the teaching profession," said Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers.

"The government's proposal to trade off workload reform against pay demonstrates this failure.

"Robbing Peter to pay Paul will cut no ice with teachers. A cost of living pay increase does nothing to attract new teachers to the profession."

Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said local pay bargaining would undermine the concept of a national education service.

"It would result in teachers being paid differently for undertaking the same work.

Grievances

"It would lead to anomalies, unfairness and grievances - it would set schools against schools and, in many cases, teachers against teachers.

"It would increase the potential for damaging industrial disputes and it could be the Trojan horse that smuggles in relatively lower pay rates for teachers," said Mr O'Kane.

Deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Gerald Imison, said: "We cannot believe that the government genuinely thinks pay is not a priority for teachers."

"The government has announced a massive investment in education through the comprehensive spending review and teachers will expect some of that to reward them for their commitment.

"To base their response on the fact that the reasons teachers give for leaving the profession are pupil behaviour and workload, ignores the legitimate aspirations of the hundreds of thousands of teachers who stay," he said.