Today (20 May 2021), The Education Policy Institute (EPI) published its report “Local pay and teacher retention in England”.  

Commenting on EPI’s report, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “The increase in applications to teacher training is no cause for complacency. After the 2007/8 financial crisis, new entrants to the profession soon melted away as economic conditions improved; government should learn from this previous experience. 

“Teachers’ and leaders’ pay is still far below 2010 levels in real terms. And as our recent report, The School Leadership Supply Crisis showed, differentiated pay rises in favour of early career teachers have served only to further undermine the supply of school leaders. Less than half of leaders (47 per cent) would recommend leadership as a career goal; almost half (46 per cent) of assistant and deputy heads said they did not aspire to headship; and over half (51 per cent) of leaders said their aspiration to lead had been negatively affected by recent differentiated pay awards that have reduced the premium for leadership responsibility.  

“And Covid has exacerbated matters – 46 percent of leaders tell us that they are now less likely to stay in leadership for as long as they had planned. 

“NAHT is clear that the systemic pay problems of the teaching profession cannot be resolved using sticking plaster solutions of top-up payments, regional pay differentials, or so-called ‘pay freedoms’. What’s needed is a root and branch review of the pay structure. The first step is to immediately restore real pay to 2010 levels, reintroduce a national pay structure and pay portability, and reinstate the salary differential for leadership. Government should then mandate the STRB to work collaboratively with teaching and leadership unions to devise a new pay structure for the profession. Government should no longer take the dedication of teachers and school leaders for granted."

Press and Media contacts:

Steven George
NAHT Head of Press and Media
01444 472886
07970 907730

Rose Tremlett 
Senior Press Officer 
07545 354363

Email : press.office@naht.org.uk