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31 R E C R U I T M E N T teachwire.net/secondary HASN’TWORKED Pay ‘flexibility’ If we’re to attract new recruits into the profession and keep those we already have, we need whole-system solutions, says DrMaryBousted T he EPI’s report on teacher shortages in England published in March this year (see bit.ly/ epi-shortages) highlighted recruitment shortages among teachers new to the profession, those working in disadvantaged schools and across certain subjects. There are differences of degree, but it’s clear that the teacher recruitment and retention problem affects the whole of the teacher career journey, extends right across the curriculum and affects all types of schools. The teacher recruitment and retention problem is a system-wide one that demands a system- wide response; further fragmentation of the existing teacher pay system would be completely the wrong direction of travel. Significant concerns In recent years the government has dismantled the national teacher pay structure, imposed performance-related pay (PRP) on teachers and presided over significant real-terms cuts to teacher pay, giving rise to the recruitment and retention crisis we see today. Pay ‘flexibility’ hasn’t worked; it’s merely shifted recruitment and retention problems around the school system. Teacher recruitment targets have been missed year after year, at the same time that teacher retention problems have been growing. It’s not just teachers in the early stages of their careers who are deciding to leave the profession – more experienced teachers are now leaving too. We’re seeing retention rates falling right across the teacher career journey, underlining the ‘significant concerns’ expressed by the STRB in its 29th report last year around “Declining retention rates, not just in the early career stages, but also among those with more experience.” (see bit.ly/strb-29 ) . In the same report, the STRB rightly notes that the steady decline in the competitiveness of teacher pay has contributed significantly to ongoing recruitment and retention issues. Teacher pay has been cut in real terms by some 15% since 2010. The latest NEU pay and progression survey attracted over 25,000 responses, which showed that nearly two thirds of teachers have considered leaving the profession because of low pay or concerns about lack of fairness in pay progression. Well over half of the respondents felt they were underpaid compared to their contemporaries in other graduate professions. A national pay structure The STRB has acknowledged that teacher pay continues to lag behind that of other graduate professions. We need now to reverse the fragmentation of the pay system, rather than extend it, and restore the competitiveness of the teaching profession as a whole. This must include restoring the national teacher pay structure, so that we can provide serving and potential teachers with the clarity, fairness and transparency they need from the pay structure. A national pay structure, embedding the principle of fair pay within the huge school system, will help all schools. ‘Targeted’ measures simply create new problems. All teachers deserve to have their pay cuts since 2010 restored, which is why the NEU has called for the implementation of an immediate and fully-funded teacher pay increase of 7% in September 2020. There also needs to be a restoration of the national pay structure and the removal of PRP. To repair the damage to teacher supply from a decade of pay cuts and fragmentation, we’ll need to implement whole market measures. There’s a growing consensus that these urgent measures are needed to address the worsening recruitment and retention problems. Pay ‘flexibility’ is the problem, not the solution. Editor’s Note This piece was commissioned and produced prior to the measures adopted by the UK in response to the COVID-19 outbreak ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr Mary Bousted is joint general secretary of the NEU; further details about the NEU’s Pay campaign can be found at bit.ly/neu-pay