I know I qualify for threshold assessment, but I’m still unclear about how to write my application. At our training session the head said that the standards covering teaching, assessment and pupil progress were the crucial ones and that key stage and GCSE results should be quoted as evidence of pupil progress. But I’m a part-time teacher of food technology in key stage 3, and because of the carousel arrangement that operates in our school I see each group for nine weeks only. It’s just not possible to provide the evidence that other teachers have. Frankly, I feel the dice are loaded against me.

Look again at the notes of guidance in the application pack. They make it clear that you will be judged not against the performance of other teachers, but solely against the standards. They also stress that all the standards are equally important. Where pupil progress is concerned, they ecognise that not all teachers have access to external data.

But are you sure that what you have is insufficient? Your own records and your pupils’ files will provide records of progress assessed against your scheme of work and the national curriculum requirements. They will also show how you have supported individual pupils - such as those with special needs - and how children have progressed relative to their individual starting points. There may also be an Ofsted comment about how your department’s results compare with those of other schools.

List the groups you have chosen, summarise the timetable provision and state clearly how you assess and follow up progress. Then list sources of the evidence you have chosen to support this.

Michael Duffy. This is the last pay advice column. Applications to cross the pay threshold must be submitted by Monday, June 5