Pay review body recommends 4% pay rise for teachers - government screwed

[noblegiraffe]

It is being reported that the teachers independent pay review body has recommended a pay rise of close to 4% for teachers. The government told it to recommend 2.8%. Schools can afford about 1.3% with funding increases, anything above that will have to come out of budget cuts.

If the government reject the 4% and go for 2.8%, both main teachers' unions have said that they will immediately start balloting for strike action. If any pay rise is unfunded, strike action is also on the cards.

This is not 'teachers demanding more money', this is the independent pay review body saying that teachers need to be paid more because the profession is underpaid and in crisis.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/strb-recomments-teacher-pay-rise-close-to-4-reports/

@noblegiraffe . Your bothered about GCSEs now are you? You weren't to bothered during Covid about children sitting GCSEs.

Are you happy for pensioners to die due to no heating during winter as long as you get another payrise ? What was last year's payrise?

Noble was particularly bothered during Covid as many threads at the time will prove. Many of us worked longer hours than usual teaching live lessons online. Sorry if your own kids were poorly served.
Personally I want the pay rise to be funded. That's all.

@Yellowshirt this pay rise is advised by an independent review, not by teachers or their unions

The TPS needs reform. It’s unaffordable but can’t be reformed because today’s contributions are paying current pensioners pensions. It’s a gigantic Ponzi scheme that costs schools a fortune.

Well yes. Some people seem to think that the employer contributions are going into a pot for my future pension when that's not how it works at all.

Haven't read all comments but those Government members worrying. Would they be the same ones that approved the last MP pay rises?

I'd like to see their expenses reports.

Did they ever get around to claiming all that scammed money from Covid?

There's plenty of money. They just can't manage it.

The conditions are what they are -challenging! But also inherent in the nature of teaching: it's 23:20 and I'm midway through my 3 hour nightly marking, assessment and preparation stint (primary, Y6) after my own DC's bedtime. The way my school works, there is no other way to get around it -I create bespoke content for tomorrow based on today's learning every day in order for all learners to have optimal learning opportunities in all lessons. If I didn't, there would be no quality learning experiences tomorrow. And for this, I am remunerated just over 38k with over 25 years experience and leadership across the sector. There is no money in school budgets to increase anyone's pay even though I lead several subjects in my school and provide frequent staff training.
It really isn't unreasonable for teachers to feel like a pay rise would be warranted but two things can be simultaneously true: where will the money come from?

It's not teachers feeling like a pay rise would be warranted, it's an independent pay review body saying that a pay rise is needed.

Which is far more of a problem for the government. They could just ignore teachers, independent pay review bodies are trickier.

This is what happens when the government under funds things for many years. It comes back and bites them in the arse.

If your job is becoming increasingly difficult, year on year but it pays the bills and affords you some financial security then you're less likely to quit than if you're seeing your level of financial comfort being gradually eroded.

The pay might not be the primary reason teachers are leaving the profession but it won't help.

Yes, same with DH, 23 years ago. We bought a house and had a second baby and lived on one salary for a few years - in the south east. I don't think you could manage that today, just a few years into your teaching career.

I think there has been a dislike of education from large parts of society a Part from the middle.classes who are willing to look at grammar or private options as they have direct experience of the benefits of education. It is a sad truth for a lot of workers teaching doesnt equate to hard physical work with immediate economic benefit but rather a group of workers who can enhance the lives of middle class kids ready to learn but are essentially child care for theirs.

It is a sad truth that in this age people are wanting a bit more for the holiday to the costa del.sol.than think about more being plowed into education.

My DH (Year 3 FT teacher) doesn’t want more money. What he DOES want:

• A less intense day for the children. The amount of lessons he has to pack in, rush through and deliver even by 11.30am (which is a very late first break) means things are rushed through and he has a huge daily marking load.
• To be able to visit the staffroom at lunch instead of eating in his classroom in 15 mins to just keep on top of the marking/daily workload to ensure he has some time to eat dinner and actually see his own 2 children at bedtime.
• To have time to actually speak to the children and get to know them as individuals.
• Less obsession with English and Maths and more focus on all the other subjects.
• Instead of SLT checking his marking weekly (he has always adhered to the policy and has 15 years experience!), he would prefer some proper modelling and discussion of strategies to better support the SEND needs of certain children (some of whom only have funded hours for the morning and supportive parents who are stepping in to co-home educate for half a day in collaboration with my DH, who is often alone with his whole class and doesn’t even have a general TA to support). He is extremely worried about some of these children and desperate to do more.
• He always says ‘primary school isn’t fun anymore’ and that he would hate to attend himself if he was a child now, as compared to our primary experience in the ‘90s (which is really sad).

Public sector pensions are too high (including my own) and out of proportion with the real world (private sector). No one thinks yep I’ll just get paid these peanuts now go have more at age 70 or whatever it will be. Why haven’t they done more to pay people more now? Most people my age (30s) would MUCH rather have the money now since retirement is a pipe dream anyway.

In my NHS trust, many people got large pay rises last year (some of the medics got 12%) and this year we have redundancies (sorry, mutually agreed departures). Careful what you wish for, eh?

I agree workload is crazy. I don’t think we need bespoke lesson plans updated every night.

Starting salary for a teacher is £31k. The average salary is about £40k. When you pro rata it to compare it with full time (so 38 + 5 weeks paid holiday ) the average salary is more like £50k FTE. Plus a 27% pension contribution, sick pay and security. Teachers were also awarded a 5.5% pay rise last year.

It’s a hard job, but at those salary’s I’d like to know what job isn’t? I don’t think many people once you get over £30k are just working set hours with no stress.

I'm not a teacher but I'd guess there aren't many who'd swap their TA for a 4% pay rise - and that's the reality of unfunded pay rises. As pp have said, if the conditions are shit 4% isn't enough to keep you there.

Use that VAT on private schools, wasn't that meant to fund improving state schools?? Having a qualified teacher seems a fairly good place to start trying to level up state provision.

Didn't you just get a 5 Percent award?
Or am I making that up?

And does the government have to award what a pay review board recommends?

What your DH wants is not the point of this thread. The OP is gleeful that ‘the government is screwed’ - not exactly a professional stance.
The teachers want more money. A ‘review body’ with no responsibility for budget recommends a pie-in-the-sky amount.
If the award has to come partly from school budgets that is too bad -the government cannot just magically up extra money other than taking it from the rest of us.
The OP’s glee is despicable.

@DeafLeppard many schools have also had to make people redundant, not renew temporary contracts or not replace a position after someone has left.

@Threedoa there is both a teacher retainment and teacher recruitment crisis. Very hard to recruit support staff, admin, caretakers etc. The long holidays are no longer a draw for people, either because of pay or the actual conditions in school including workload, behaviour from pupils/parents, lack of support from leaders.

Many children are being taught subjects by teachers who are not specialised in that subject, which isn’t great for both the pupils and the teachers.

No they got 5.5% one year. For the last 15 years plus it's been a mixture of pay freezes and below inflation 1% maybe awards. My pay has fallen over 25% in real terms in 10 years. 5.5% once far from cuts it - and not all teachers got that. Those in non academised Sixth Forms didn't get the proper award.

The country can’t afford it ,end of

Get rid of as much middle level managers as possible! Most of them are self-important control freaks that do more harm than good anyway! Also change all manager titles into project coordinators, because that’s what they really are!

I'm not sure where you get the idea that I'm gleeful about the government being screwed from. It's an observation - the government are screwed.

They have to either
Reject the recommendation and face teacher strikes plus cuts to school provision which are already on the cards
Accept the recommendation but not fund it and face teacher strikes plus massive cuts to school provision
Accept the recommendation and fund it getting the money from .... tax rises that they said they wouldn't do.

I don't know what they're going to do.

my comment was addressing your claim that teachers striking for more pay isn’t aren’t demanding more money. Obviously they are.

when you take into account their pension and holidays, teachers are fairly reasonably paid imo. I do think public sector pensions are an area that needs reform- everyone needs to move to dc schemes now. We can’t afford these incredibly expensive schemes