Gove pushing down teachers' wages
The country's largest teaching union has said new statistics show that academy schools are not paying good teachers more.
The School Workforce in England data released today by the Department for Education shows that the average salary for classroom teachers working in local authority maintained secondary schools was £36,100.
The average for classroom teachers working in secondary academy schools was slightly lower, at £35,300.
In November 2012, the average gross salary for all full-time qualified teachers working in publicly funded schools was £37,600.
The corresponding figure recorded in November 2011 was £37,900. The average salary for a classroom teacher and a school leadership group teacher was £34,200 and £55,700 respectively.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:
“The statistical evidence published today gives the lie to the Secretary of State’s claim that extending the pay freedoms of academy schools to all schools will result in good teachers being paid more.
“The Secretary of State’s changes are resulting in considerably reduced pay for all classroom teachers."
From September, a new national pay framework for teachers will come into effect, ending pay increases based on length of service and linking all teachers’ pay progression to performance, based on annual appraisals.
It will also abolish mandatory pay points within the pay scales for classroom teachers to give schools freedom on how much teachers are paid.
The data released today also shows that women dominate the teaching profession.
73.3% of full and part-time regular teachers were female, 65.1% of full and part-time head teachers were female and 92% of full and part-time teaching assistants were female.
