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1 in 5 teachers denied cost of living payrise, 14% denied pay progression

27 replies

noblegiraffe · 18/12/2017 14:38

Well this is a jolly Christmas story:

www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/one-five-teachers-denied-cost-living-pay-rise

From a survey of 12,000 teachers.

Regarding pay progression "More than 90 per cent of those denied progression were not told during the year that they were not meeting the standards needed to progress, despite Government guidance that this should happen.

And although the vast majority (88 per cent) thought the decision to deny them progression was unfair, only one in five (22 per cent) are challenging the decision, with many saying that they have already been told not to bother appealing.

Although nearly a third (30 per cent) of those denied progression were told this was because they had not met pupil progress objectives, 17 per cent were told it was due to budgetary reasons, despite Government guidance that funding should not be a factor."

And the government wonders why we have a retention crisis.

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BringOnTheScience · 18/12/2017 20:04

My progression rise was denied because the summer-born boys didn't make enough progress in reading. All two of them. Sad

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Ropsleybunny · 18/12/2017 20:12

My brother has been denied his pay progression because the targets set were unreachable. He's only in his second year of teaching and is looking to leave.

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meltingsugar · 18/12/2017 20:17

I've seen a scale before, with different levels. Does anyone know what level a teacher with 10 years experience is likely to earn?

I know what the starting salary is, but I get the impression progression is really quite limited. Which makes it even worse.

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Appuskidu · 18/12/2017 20:24

I've seen a scale before, with different levels. Does anyone know what level a teacher with 10 years experience is likely to earn?

It now totally depends on whether the head (likes you) progresses you through the pay scales and if you have met the (arbitrarily selected) PMR targets or not.

Why can’t I do strike throughs on my posts any more??

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meltingsugar · 18/12/2017 20:27

So can you be stuck on the same scale point for years??

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Appuskidu · 18/12/2017 20:32

Pay portability has also been scrapped, so if you are on eg M5 and move schools-they new school doesn’t have to pay you as M5.

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noblegiraffe · 18/12/2017 20:34

If you progressed perfectly up the pay scale and remained a class teacher with no additional role (so not HOD/HOY or anything) then you'd expect to be on UPS2 which is £37,258 outside of London (more if in London) with 10 years experience.

But that's a BIG if these days.

The next point up the pay scale, UPS3 is as far as you can go. If you don't take a promoted post then you're stuck at UPS3 for the rest of your career.

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Littlewhistle · 18/12/2017 20:44

Thank goodness I'm in Scotland and we don't have this

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babysloth · 18/12/2017 22:12

We have a real issue with the number of teachers dropping out in the first 5 years of teaching. The new pay progression penalises the teachers in their first 5 years (more experienced teachers were already at the top scale), the very teachers we should be trying to incentivise to stay in the system. I can't imagine how demoralising it would have been to be refused progression in my first few years teaching.

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BringOnTheScience · 18/12/2017 22:46

You know what's really bad though? It never occurred to me at the time that my targets were unreasonable and that my lack of pay progression could be challenged!

We're so worn down by nothing ever being good enough that we come to accept it.

I left one year after that pay decision. It was the beginning of the end.

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SisterLocation · 18/12/2017 23:24

No wonder teachers are leaving in droves Sad

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noblegiraffe · 19/12/2017 08:08

Not giving pay progression to someone in their second year of teaching is awful. Pay at that point is crap and the working hours huge due to lack of experience so that's just a huge 'fuck you' isn't it? Hugely devastating to your confidence. A bad observation is one thing, but your pay affects your life outside of teaching as well as in it.

I also don't understand how schools can possibly justify not giving teachers the cost of living pay rise.

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Theworldisfullofidiots · 19/12/2017 08:12

We don't deny pay progression solely linked to progress of individual children (I'm a governor) as to some extent it's a target outside of your control.
If the whole class were doing badly and you'd had feedback during the year of concerns then that would be a different matter. But the conversation would have been had with you before.
I am concerned how schools, however, are going to ge able to fund pay rises.

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Theworldisfullofidiots · 19/12/2017 08:15

My underfunded school cannot afford the cost of living pay rise. We actually cannot afford what we have. We got through last year by using our reserves.
In our case to afford the pay rise we would have to lose staff. Actually to keep running we might have to lose staff.

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CapnCabinet · 19/12/2017 08:17

I've been teaching for 16 years and only just made UPS1. I'd been at M6 for about 5 years but my Head said there wasn't enough money in the budget for me to progress.

Really wish the Govt would look harder at retention.

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noblegiraffe · 19/12/2017 08:22

Not giving experienced teachers a pay rise is a false economy for the government because it is exceptionally expensive to train and replace us. If they want to replace me, they have to pay a £30k bursary to train someone who may not even ever teach, not to mention the millions they are having to spend on increasingly desperate advertising for teachers and they are still miserably failing to meet recruitment targets.

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Whizziwig · 19/12/2017 08:22

I am stuck on M6. I have been teaching for 15 years (part-time since kids). Used to be on UPS but after my school was taken over by a MAT they started demanding I perform several leadership responsibilities to "earn" my salary which were impossible to complete on a part-time basis. I left, but finding a part-time job in a suitable location was difficult, especially as I was expensive, so I dropped back to the main pay scale. The head is obviously very reluctant to put anyone through the threshold and we have to complete various whole-school projects which I just don't have time for at this stage in my life. So I am stuck.

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noblegiraffe · 19/12/2017 08:24

Remember the government sold performance-related pay for teachers as a way to 'reward good teachers' by paying them over the odds.

We all knew it would end up with teachers being shafted.

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TheFallenMadonna · 19/12/2017 08:25

I'm on UPS3 and I think it's fair enough really (although of course an inflation linked rise would be the right thing). I came off a scale (leadership) for a simpler life, and it is. What irritates me (And I have moaned about this before, sorry!) is when performance-linked progression is referred to as performance related pay. My students could perform wildly beyond expectations, my teaching could be stratospheric, and I would be paid the same.

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holidayparkquestion · 19/12/2017 08:29

I think M6 is a common ceiling. It's about 33,000 isn't it?

Our local primary has admitted it's pleased the older staff left when they became an academy as young staff are cheap. Mostly under 30s now . I don't know what their plans are as they grow in experience if cheap staff is in their sights.

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holidayparkquestion · 19/12/2017 08:30

Teaching is a mess :(

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noblegiraffe · 19/12/2017 08:34

I just realised that the name ‘cost of living’ pay rise in my title, taken from the TES article is a complete lie. There was no cost of living pay rise and hasn’t been since 2010. 1% is still an effective pay cut, but teachers are even being denied that.

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Piglet208 · 19/12/2017 08:44

I took part in the survey. I am a key stage leader on the SLT and am only on MP3. No pay rise for 2 years across the school due to school budget ( running at a loss) regardless of whether you meet or exceed targets. I love my school but I'm not sure how sustainable it is for me to continue in a leadership role working hard with long hours to meet all my targets earning such ridiculously low pay.

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SweetSummerchild · 19/12/2017 11:48

Over the last five years the only real change to my salary has been as a result of my personal tax allowance increasing and my pension contributions decreasing under the new scheme (it is now based on actual salary rather than FTE).

My class sizes have all gone up by about 20%, my timetable has gone up and I've been expected to take on a whole school responsibility.

I'm leaving teaching at the end of this term. It just isn't worth the money.

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leccybill · 19/12/2017 18:36

Well this is all depressingly true. I spoke to quite a few teachers at my place this week (unusually, as there's no staffroom) and every one of us is looking for a way out of teaching.

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