A CRUDE link between teachers’ pay and pupils’ results would be wrong, the Green Paper on the future of the teaching profession in Wales says. Appraisal of teachers’ performance will need to allow for factors such as the high levels of deprivation and truancy.
In Wales, as in England, the Government wants “a rigorous new approach to appraisal” to guide decisions about teachers’ pay, with those passing a performance threshold getting an initial increase of up to 10 per cent.
The Green Paper, issued by the Welsh Office last week, sets out proposals for an pound;850 million reform of teachers’ salary and career structure in Wales broadly similar to the proposals for England unveiled last December. Ministers are anxious to preserve teachers’ freedom of movement between England and Wales which would be difficult if there were key differences in pay and conditions.
No teacher should be worse off as a result of the changes and most should be better off, Peter Hain, the Welsh education minister, promised when launching the proposals.
“We have much to be proud of what the teaching profession is achieving in Wales,” Mr Hain said. The Green Paper offered higher status and better prospects in return for “a newly enhanced professionalism, greater individual accountability, more flexibility and ... still higher standards.”
