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LSE study of the Green Paper pay system for teachers and its effects
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Sources of variation in teaching effectiveness among experienced teachers in my school | % citing as main factor |
different levels of teaching skills | 25 |
differences in motivation or morale | 32 |
differences in age | 1 |
ability to motivate their pupils | 22 |
some teachers have a very difficult workload | 14 |
Other | 7 |
Total | 100 |
One very important role for the teachers' unions then would seem to be to keep the pressure on the government, and school management to ensure that the necessary professional development and other procedures are in place to help teachers achieve the standards necessary to pass their Threshold assessment.
Finally, union pressure may help to avoid the injustices that could arise from uncertainty about future government funding of the pay increases for those passing the Threshold. The Government has pledged that salary increases arising from teachers passing the Threshold successfully will be funded for the first two years, and has assured that it has budgeted for its medium-term costs. It is very important that the Government should not be 'blown off course'. Should financial constraints make it harder to pass the Threshold in the future there is a clear a danger of inequity between 'first' and 'second generation' applicants. It is just such feelings of unfair operation that emerged in the CEP's previous research as undermining the legitimacy of performance management in the eyes of public servants.
When considering the implementation of PM, which groups do you feel share broadly the same interests as yourself? | Broadly the same | Mostly different | It's hard to say |
a) Your school's governors | 24 | 16 | 60 |
b) The leadership group/management team in your school | 49 | 19 | 32 |
c) Other teachers in your school | 79 | 5 | 16 |
d) Other teachers in your union or professional association | 65 | 5 | 30 |
e) Your union or professional association | 61 | 7 | 32 |
f) The DfEE or your LEA | 9 | 36 | 54 |
Are the unions the right groups to do this? A telling piece of evidence from our provisional results shows how far teachers trust their unions to represent their interests faithfully in this area. Two thirds replied they felt they shared the same interests with other teachers in their unions, and sixty percent felt their unions themselves shared their interests. Indeed, half of the teachers feel the leadership team in their school shares their interests on the Green Paper. Of the remainder, most found it 'hard to say'. In contrast, most teachers either thought the DfEE's interests were different, or found it hard to say how close their interests were. Our previous research shows how important it is that performance management systems are seen to be fairly operated. The DfEE might well be as capable as the other parties of administering the procedures fairly, but what counts are teachers' perceptions. On our evidence so far, if the teachers' unions were to judge the scheme to be fairly operated, teachers would be far more likely to believe them than the DfEE or other government bodies, and they would therefore be far less likely to find the scheme demotivating. The stakes are high. On the success of these management reforms, hangs the success of the Government's ambition for a world-class education service.
Copyright © London School of Economics and Political Science 2000