The National Association of Head Teachers has this week called for a “double-digit” pay increase in September, while the National Education Union has launched a preliminary ballot of members for industrial action over teacher pay and school funding.
However, in its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), the Department for Education (DfE) has called for teacher pay rises to “return to a more sustainable level”.
In a technical note on school costs for 2024/25, published at the same time, the DfE states that school budgets in the next financial year will probably allow for a maximum increase in spending of £600m – which means that according to these DfE calculations any pay rise would be limited to 2%.
The DfE’s STRB submission states: “The overall reward package for teachers, the recruitment and retention picture, and the more stable economic context support the return of teacher pay awards to a more sustainable level than the previous two historically high pay awards.”
However, this comes as teacher workload has risen. The DfE’s annual Working lives of teachers and leaders research paints a bleak picture.
Average workload for full-time teachers has increased from 51.9 hours a week in 2022 to 52.4 hours in 2023. Leader workload has risen from 57.5 to 58.2 hours a week.
By phase, primary school teachers clocked 53.9 hours a week in 2023 while secondary teachers worked 51.4 hours a week. Primary leaders worked an average of 57.9 hours a week, while secondary leaders worked 59.1 – all of these figures are higher than in 2022.
And new analysis from the NAHT, published as part of its submission to the STRB, has revealed that full and part-time teacher vacancies more than doubled between 2020 – when vacancies stood at 1,098 – and 2022 – when they had reached 2,334.
Its analysis of DfE figures, shows that in 2022/23, the vacancy rate stood at 0.5% of the workforce – the highest since 2010/11.
In its submission, the NAHT says that the uplift to pay required to “signal change to the profession will need to be in double digits”.
Speaking this week, general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “It could not be clearer that teachers and school leaders are reacting to eroded salaries and the cost-of-living crisis – as well as increasing workload, pressure and lack of wellbeing – and are leaving the profession.
“We cannot afford to let this continue. Education is already in the grip of a recruitment and retention crisis – the more people leave, the worse that gets. The government needs to send a clear signal to the workforce that change is coming – that starts with an urgent double digit pay uplift.”
It means that tension is once again building between the DfE and the education unions, with industrial action over pay and wider issues a real possibility again this year.
On Saturday (March 2), the NEU launched a preliminary ballot for around 300,000 of its members working in state schools and sixth forms in England asking them if they would be prepared to take industrial action.
The ballot, which closes on March 28, is asking: “Do you agree that you should receive an above-inflation pay rise for 2024/25? Would you vote ‘yes’ to strike action for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise that constitutes a meaningful step towards a long-term correction in pay, and further funding to provide improved levels of staffing provision in schools, colleges and education services?”
General secretary Daniel Kebede said: "There is every indication the government will be unwilling to offer more than 1-2% in the next pay round, so we are putting our members on alert that action may be necessary to ensure a proper pay and funding offer for teachers. Rather than allow the government to undo the gains of last year, the NEU will seek to push forward in its campaign for a long-term correction on pay.”
The NASUWT has also said that it will be “consulting members over the coming weeks” on how to continue its campaign and will ask them about potential industrial action on issues including workload and working hours, but also pay and wellbeing.
In the Working lives of teachers and leaders research, 75% of teachers said they spent too much time on general administrative work in 2023. This figure is unchanged since 2022.
Furthermore, 57% said they spent too much time following up on behaviour incidents (up from 50% in 2022) and 56% spent too much time recording, monitoring and analysing pupil data (up from 53%).
The research found that 36% of teachers and school leaders are considering leaving the state school sector in the next 12 months, excluding for retirement – an increase from 25% in 2022. The findings showed increasing dissatisfaction with pay (63%), but high workload (94%) and stress or poor wellbeing (84%) remained top of the list of reasons for quitting.
- DfE: Research and analysis: Working lives of teachers and leaders: wave 2 summary report, February 2024: www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-2/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-2-summary-report#teacher-and-leader-workload
- DfE: Policy paper: Evidence to the STRB: 2024 pay award for teachers and leaders, February 2024: www.gov.uk/government/publications/evidence-to-the-strb-2024-pay-award-for-teachers-and-leaders
- DfE: Guidance: Schools’ costs: technical note, February 2024: www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-costs-technical-note
- NAHT: NAHT evidence submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) 34th remit, February 2024: https://tinyurl.com/2347zft3