‘Evidence’ suggests new £3k teaching initiative unlikely to succeed
One of the main headlines from the Conservative Party Conference this week was Boris Johnson’s announcement that a £3,000 premium will be given to maths, science and computing teachers, encouraging them to teach in disadvantaged schools across the country.
The initiative, a part of the government’s ‘levelling up’ pledge, has raised eyebrows as it seems eerily similar to an early career payment scheme that the government scrapped earlier this year, as well as being disrespectful to the many hardworking, fantastic teachers currently working in disadvantaged schools.
The move is particularly confusing as the initiative echoes a similar scheme announced in 2019 and one in 2016, as former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan attempted to pay over 1,500 teachers to work in under-performing schools. Only 24 teachers accepted roles through the National Teaching Service.
The Department for Education announced that the latest initiative “will target teachers in years one to five” of their careers, the often-mentioned time period in which new teachers leave the profession. Schools North East, however, questions the move, believing an easing of teacher workload and that of all school staff would have a greater impact on teacher retention figures than another small cash incentive that ignores these ever pressing concerns around staff wellbeing.
Calls for policies based on firm evidence, rather than media opportunities are growing ever louder – it is one of the many recommendations Schools North East has campaigned for in our ‘Manifesto for NE Education’ (which can be found here) – and continues to be something Schools North East is campaigning for in the post-lockdown world.
This stance has been echoed by Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of NAHT, who has stated that, while the £3,000 incentive to encourage maths and science teachers into difficult areas is one way of doing it, the pressures of the profession will still remain. “It’s time to lift the burden of unnecessary and disproportionate high-stakes accountability systems”, Mr Whiteman said, adding “unless you lift the burdens, any progress will be short-lived. We would have told you that, prime minister, if only you had asked.”
Mr Whiteman continued by addressing the negative narrative of how schools were treated during the pandemic. “I won’t quickly forget, nor will I fail to remind those in power, of the false and damaging narrative some of them used. Some sought to paint a picture of lazy teachers and lazy school leaders in the middle of the pandemic. When actually you, and your colleagues, were working as hard as anybody else in the front line. That was poor judgment. Poor leadership.”
Throughout the global pandemic, it was clear that school staff truly were the ‘fourth emergency service’, with schools acting as vital hubs of their respective communities, feeding and protecting students, while maintaining a high-level online curriculum for them, tailoring the learning for those who struggled for access to devices and/or frequent internet connections. It is Schools North East’s stance that those working in schools throughout lockdown be treated with the respect they deserve and that, moving forward, they need to be in the driving seat of their own profession.
Addressing the Education Secretary directly, Mr Whiteman added that it was important he listened to “the real voices in education” and urged Mr Zahawi not to “exhaust school leaders’ goodwill” and to ensure that any engagement with those working in education is simply not “window dressing”.
On the new initiative, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said “Why not focus very much on the particular parts of the country that really need them? Let’s try and encourage those teachers to stay or join the profession.”
Despite Mr Zahawi’s comment, the incentive is apparently not aimed to attract new teachers into the profession, but to encourage existing teachers to move to more disadvantaged areas. As Professor Stephen Gorard of Durham University’s research shows, this would, of course, leave the areas they are moving away from severely understaffed and, while a monetary incentive may be attractive for some, it is unlikely that it will be enough for teachers (especially those with families) to move from one part of the country to another.
Many Head Teachers and school senior leaders feel that by putting more faith in teachers’ proficiency and expertise, as well as doing something to alleviate unreasonable workloads, the number of teachers remaining in the profession will dramatically rise, even in disadvantaged areas, such as the North East.
It is crucial that the government puts teachers back at the heart of their profession and attend to the issues they face in the classroom, rather than assert a business-type model by coaxing people with money when a better work-life balance would probably have greater impact.
Prime minister says new £3,000 ‘premium’ will send the ‘best maths and science teachers’ to disadvantaged schools: https://www.tes.com/news/boris-johnson-launches-premium-maths-and-science-teachers