Your headline “Labour calls in US firm to set pay rules” (TES, June 4) creates a misleading impression about the work that Hay Management Consultants is to undertake for the Department of Education and Employment.
First, Hay Management Consultants is a UK-based firm, whose education experience has been gained entirely in the UK. Hay is already working closely with headteachers in England through the Leadership Programme for Serving Head Teachers. This is the biggest management development programme in Europe, involving 25,000 headteachers at an annual rate of 3,500.
Second, Hay has been appointed by the DFEE not to “set pay rules” but to undertake research into teacher effectiveness and to develop models of excellence for a number of teaching roles. One, but only one, consequence of this is that arrangements for threshold assessment can be rooted in best practice.
The initial response to our work has been extremely encouraging. Heads have emerged from the leadership programme feeling “refreshed, challenged and confident about the future”.
We look forward to working with teachers during this exciting further research.
David Patterson
Managing director
Hay Management Consultants
52 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1
