Tom Balmer, headteacher, Jubilee Murton primary school, Co. Durham: “We work as a tightly-knit team and we all help each other no matter what the difficulty is, and the general feeling is that this kind of pay structure would be a negative aspect of the way our school develops.”
Phil Silvester, headteacher, Westfield school, Dorset: “My guess is at least 50 per cent of staff will apply for the threshold assessment, but some may instead go into the new leadership spine so avoiding a lot of administration for those concerned in the first year. If it wasn’t for the new leadership spine and the opportunities that brings with it, the figure would be higher - 70 to 80 per cent.”
John Watson, headteacher, Wellington school, Cheshire: “I am certain some members of staff will apply for performance-
related pay, especially those who have reached that point on the scale. The final details are going to be very late leaving little time to implement it, but that is something we have to liv with.”
Mark Philpot, headteacher, St Richard Gwyn Catholic high school, Flintshire:
“September 2000 is an unreasonable target date, taking into consideration the workload on teachers and headteachers to implement the revised curriculum 2000, the post-16 curriculum changes as well as the complexities of the proposed performance management framework.
“Last weekend the Catholic secondary heads resolved that we would ask the the Department for Education and Employment to delay the implementation of the performance management reforms.”
David Abrams, head, East Borough primary, Maidstone, Kent: “Talking to staff I have found how murky the picture is. I have been offered training so perhaps we will be better informed then. As far as applying for the threshold is concerned, the feeling here is it should be everybody or nobody. It’s divisive in a primary schoolbecause you cannot say one teacher is responsible for improvement in pupil standards.”
Maureen McTaggart
