Commenting on the announcement made today by the Government on teacher pay, NFER School Workforce Lead, Jack Worth, said:
“We welcome the Government’s teacher pay award of 4 per cent as it recognises the crucial value of teachers in our society and will help to improve teacher recruitment and retention.
“While we also welcome the funding the Government has announced to cover the additional 1.2 per cent above its initial proposal to School Teachers' Review Body (STRB), requiring schools to find efficiencies to fund some of this pay rise puts extra strain on school budgets that are already very tight.
“We encourage the Government to make additional funding available at the spending review for schools over this parliament to deliver the 6,500 teacher pledge and support schools to provide a high-quality education for all pupils.
“We are also pleased to see the Government announce an additional £160m for further education colleges and providers, as this could enable FE teacher pay to keep pace with teacher pay and avoid falling further behind in competitiveness than it already is."