David Cameron suggests higher pay for inner city teachers

David Cameron has this morning launched a Charter for Inner City Schools (a pdf of which is here).  The Charter includes a suggestion that schools in 'tough' areas should enjoy the freedom to pay higher salaries to ensure teacher recruitment and retention.  English language teaching, streaming and home-school contracts are also emphasised.

The proposals will be submitted to the Public Services Improvement Policy Group under Stephen Dorrell and Baroness Perry.  The publication of 'proposals' like this may be the way in which the party intends to deal with the policy vacuum between now and the 18 month reporting deadline for the policy groups.

Comments

[James Maskell]

The thing that gets me is that how can the Policy groups not accept those "proposals"? If they come up with proposals other than the ones submitted by the leadership, theres going to be huge furore about it. Cameron will look silly if his ideas arent accepted. He can simply over-rule them.

Its a farce IMO. Whats the point of Policy Groups if their work is pre-empted by the Party's announcements?

[Account Deleted]

I think it is a good piece of work, and builds on the fact educashion, educashion, educashion has hardly been a success under NuLab.

About the idea this is a farce... the Policy Group process is a good one I think... and I am pretty sure that DC will have been in contact with the Public Services Group to ensure that the embarassing situation Mr Maskell is talking about doesn't happen... If there is one thing Cameron and his people excel at, it seems to be good PR...

[johnC]

'a suggestion that schools in 'tough' areas should enjoy the freedom to pay higher salaries to ensure teacher recruitment'

Why should this freedom be restricted to schools in tough areas ? Under the Grant Maintained system all schools had the right to opt out of the national teachers pay structure if they wished. Why isn't Cameron pledging to restore this ?

[Selsdon Man]

Key words missing from the document

Grammar schools
Parental choice
Vouchers
Selection
Science
Mathematics
Suspensions
Exclusions

Oh dear!

[James Maskell]

The previous comment was purely on the idea of proposing ideas to the Policy Groups which obviously cant be refused as it would lead to problems. I struggle to see though how it can be spun to be a good thing.

On the substantial point on this thread ie the Charter itself, its another nice pamphlet. Its nice, but has problems. The big problem is about the balance that has to be met. What balance is Cameron looking for here between freedom for schools and control by Government? This pamphlet, while largely welcome, seems another vague answer which doesnt explain the Conservative ethos particularly clearly or distinctly from Labour.

Do we want schools to be free? If we do, why are the Conservatives publishing this Charter which tells schools it should set by ability? One thing which is concerning is about pay and conditions. When things got really bad at the Ramsgate School down here (and they were terrible, shared worst in the country), the teachers were all put on notice and if they didnt get the right results, theyd be out of a job (honest). A third of them resigned. Another third got the sack. In the very worst schools, what guarantee is there that these good teachers will actually stay if the results are bad? I think the bit about attracting and rewarding teachers is wonderful but it seems like an aspiration rather than something that can be truly acheived. What incentive is there for the best teachers to go to the worst schools and teach there if they are quite confortable where they are?

Long post...sorry.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"The Charter includes a suggestion that schools in 'tough' areas should enjoy the freedom to pay higher salaries to ensure teacher recruitment and retention."

A good idea in principle.

However, won't this simply lead to already underfunded schools having to make cutbacks in other areas of their desperately thin budgets to pay these higher wages?

And won't this effect be exacerbated by these schools effectively entering into 'bidding wars' for their teachers?

Still, at least this nod towards (albeit limited) market principles should please some of the Cameronsceptics?

[Cllr Iain Lindley]

I rather suspect that most people who think "grammar schools" should be in this document wouldn't know what an inner-city looked like if one came up and bit them on the arse.

[malcolm]

Iain,that's rubbish.

[James Hellyer]

There's nothing insprirational in this document. We've heard it before (more setting, more special needs schools, better school dinners, etcetera). The only nod at anything new is the recognition that national pay deals ignore differentials in the cost of living.

One thing:

"English language teaching, streaming and home-school contracts are also emphasised"

Like Willetts, the document is very specific to talk about "setting" and not "streaming". The two are not the same. Although setting is preferable to streaming, setting for every single subject is simply not practical.

[John Hustings]

"I rather suspect that most people who think "grammar schools" should be in this document wouldn't know what an inner-city looked like if one came up and bit them on the arse."

I support the principle of selection and grammar schools, and I spent my first 20 years in probably the roughest inner-city area in the country.

[Martin]

I know that it is supposed to be about the roughness of the area rather than the school itself, but surely you could not pay teachers that worked in very good schools extra just because the outside neighbourhood was rough. Surely the school environment would be more crucial to the idea of increased salaries than just the local area itself. It is because of this that I think the idea is rather odd. What exactly would happen if these "tough" schools turned the corner and improved across the board? Would the teachers salaries go down? If so would they lose those experienced teachers to other "tough" schools after they became indignant at the prospect of a pay cut. What incentive is there for the school authorities to help the schools improve if salaries are dependant on how "tough" the work environment is?

I'm probably barking up the wrong tree but I have comic visions of teachers smashing up the classrooms in order for the school and the area to be classed as tough. Smash the place up every once in a while, blame it on unruly youths and you could be in for a pay rise.

[Richard]

Free the schools and let the market decide the pay rate. That should lead to the most efficient allocation of resources.

[Frank Young]

This is probably one of those policies that will wither and die. It will be amalgamated into an overall commitment to give schools freedom over pay and conditions.

I'm very aware that i'm writing this post from a boarding house so I will try to add something more substantial later - when I finish duty!!

[James Hellyer]

The only problem there, Richard, is that the market doesn't set state school fees.

[Richard]

"The only problem there, Richard, is that the market doesn't set state school fees."

And there's the problem! One solution could be to allow schools to set prices that would then be paid for by a state voucher. Unfortunately there would be the risk that schools would put prices up knowing that the taxpayer would pick up the tag. Perhaps a voucher system combined with top up fees funded by tax cuts?

[Linda Mutema]

I am worried about the chaos in the home office which has contributed to some of us having to wait for a simple decision for 5 years.

Do you think you can come up with effective policies to change the immigrtion and Nationality Department if we vote for you.

[Chad]

Iain noted:
"I rather suspect that most people who think "grammar schools" should be in this document wouldn't know what an inner-city looked like if one came up and bit them on the arse."

I was born in Newham. Is that inner city enough for you? I grew up in Southend, but all my family were based in the East End.

No-one in my family had ever been to university, most were low earners, but I won a place at grammar school and it was the best social mobiliser I could ever hope for.

Iain, poor parents with bright kids don't have the option of sending their kids to Eton.

[Mike Christie]

Chad, this is a topic that was done in March, someone has resurrected it with a totally off-topic question. I nearly replied to Iain too....

[Chad]

D'oh. Thanks Mike.
:-)