The BBC's Mike Baker: "Teaching unions are suspicious"

The Green Paper on the reform of the teaching profession, to be presented to the House of Commons on Thursday, is aimed at easing the current recruitment crisis in England and raising teaching standards in the classroom.

But proposals for linking teachers' pay to performance have been condemned by the largest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers, as an "insult to the vast majority of teachers".

David Blunkett: Incentives are necessary

The union is adamantly opposed to performance-related pay and has threatened to go on strike. "Selecting out a privileged few will not deal with the problems which the profession faces," said a NUT spokesperson.

A less strident message has come from the second largest teachers' union, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, which has expressed mixed feelings about the reform of pay.

General Secretary, Nigel de Gruchy, says that the Green Paper will be a "defining moment" in education, with the opportunity for teaching to be given "a bright new future" or be consigned to becoming a "profession of last resort".

NUT leader Doug McAvoy: Union says scheme an "insult"

Urging the Education Secretary to show more carrot than stick, the union leader said that "the government has to make teaching more attractive", but this depended on the balance of reforms not leaning too heavily towards performance-related pay.

Although willing to envisage an appraisal system leading to pay rises, Mr de Gruchy said that a settlement imposed without the consent of teachers would lead to a "future for the profession too awful to contemplate".

But Mr Blunkett believes incentives for excellence are essential if the government is to sustain its drive for higher education standards.

David Blunkett: "We're going to transform the three Rs."

Earlier this week he told the BBC's Breakfast With Frost: "We are speaking on behalf of parents and the country as a whole. We aren't going to let anybody block the radical changes we are bringing in."

Mr Blunkett said he was aiming for a new three Rs: "All is not well, not just in terms of children reaching key stage results, but just simply not being able to read and write when they pass into secondary schools.

"Therefore we are going to transform the three Rs into a new three Rs which is recruitment, retention and rewarding good teaching."

Substantial under-recruitment this year to teacher training courses has exposed the difficulty of attracting graduates into teaching, compared to other professions.

At about £15,000, a teacher's starting salary is not uncompetitive. But within seven years, without going into management or taking on extra responsibilities, classroom teachers hit a ceiling of £23,000.

Ministers have already acted by offering 5,000 "golden hellos" to graduates in the worst shortage subjects of maths and science.

Jacqueline Hewer: The new 3 R's - recruit, retain, reward

But the Green Paper is likely to set out a more systematic approach to attract high-flyers. After a rigorous selection process, graduates with the right academic qualifications and a proven aptitude for teaching might climb the pay scale within four or five years.