Heads have to decide which teachers will receive new teaching and learning responsibility payments, which replace the current system of management allowances.

To qualify for the new payments a teacher’s duties must significantly exceed those of normal classroom teachers and:

* be focused on teaching and learning;

* require the exercise of a teacher’s professional skills and judgement;

* require the teacher to lead, manage and develop a subject or curriculum area; or lead and manage pupil development across the curriculum;

* have an impact on the progress of pupils other than those in the teacher’s assigned classes or groups of pupils; and

* involve leading, developing and enhancing the teaching of other staff.

To qualify for a TLR1 the teacher must also line manage a significant number of people.

Existing management allowances awarded up to December 2004 will be safeguarded for three years.

Figures published by the School Teachers’ Review Body show that in September last year, 172,000 full-time equivalent teachers had management allowances. That is 37.5 per cent of primary and 62 per cent of secondary teachers.

Schools can award TLRs worth any amount inside the ranges shown but there must be a gap of at least pound;1,500 between payments made by the same school within both TLR1 and TLR2