It seems the only thing that has changed to teachers’ pay - since I last wrote to The TES on this subject in 1998 - is the salaries heads (sorry, principals) in academies are being paid. It seems the minimum starting salary is #163;100,000 and, as academies continue to headhunt, that is increasing.

Does this mean we are getting the best heads, or do we have an army of greedy careerists? The public sector would be better off without them since academies aren’t all they are cracked up to be, as the 2009 exam results have proved.

Jane Eades, London.