By Gavin Mackintosh-
Education Secretary Damian Hinds has been up to his ambitious schemes for Uk pupils as he confirmed an investment of £508 million to fully fund a deal to raise the main pay range for classroom teachers by 3.5 per cent.
The announcement comes as the government announces the biggest pay rise in almost 10 years for around one million public sector workers across Britain – the result of the government’s balanced approach to the economy, reducing debt while investing in public services.
The average gross pay for a teacher in 2017 was £38,700. The starting salary for a teacher is £22,917 outside of London and £28,660 in inner London. In addition to an annual pay award, many teachers also receive increases from promotions and responsibility allowances.
The deal comes following recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:
There are no great schools without great teachers and I want us to recruit and retain brilliant teachers who are fairly rewarded for the vital work they do.
Today we are announcing a fully funded pay rise of up to 3.5% – or between £800 and £1,366 – for classroom teachers on the main pay range, 2% for those on the upper pay range and 1.5% for those in leadership positions.
This will mean that teaching continues to be a competitively rewarded career, and I will continue to work with the profession, Ofsted and the unions on issues like excessive workload, professional development and flexible working, to make sure teaching remains an attractive, fulfilling profession.
Schools will continue to determine how their staff are paid but the increases above will be funded by the British government with a new teachers’ pay grant worth £187 million in 2018/19 and £321 million in 2019/20 from the existing Department for Education budget – paid to all schools on top of their core budgets from the National Funding Formula, which has also been confirmed today. The cash boost will be highly welcomed by teachers who are under immense pressure to adjust their pupils to the higher standard of education imposed by the government on primary and secondary schools across the Uk.
In cash terms, this means teachers could receive a boost of between £1,184 and £1,366 to their salary, while salaries for new teachers will increase by between £802 and £1003. The news will be welcome from teachers in most schools. The education secretary has done well in raising available funds to help raise the morale of youths and improve educational standards across the Uk. Too many primary and Secondary state schools in the Uk have been mediocre for decades, but there has always been a number of very good and outstanding state primary and secondary schools in the Uk.
They have been a lot fewer than the majority, but all that has been changing in the last year or so as standards are driven high, calling for more skilled teachers and an increased training to meet the new higher required standards.