While teachers in England prepare for the introduction of performance-related pay, teachers in Switzerland are facing a similar linking of pay to results.

Mike Baker visits Zurich and finds teachers facing performance-related pay

But the starting points for the two teaching professions are very different - in terms of pay, status and the numbers of young people wanting to enter teaching.

Teachers in Switzerland with 10 years experience can expect to earn around £46,000 a year, double the amount their counterparts in England will be paid.

The social status of teachers is also considered to be high and, without a national curriculum or headteachers, Swiss teachers exercise considerable independence in the classroom.

Zurich's education minister wants to sack bad teachers

However there are plans to link teachers' pay with performance, with regular inspections in classrooms to assess how teachers are providing lessons.

The education minister in the canton of Zurich, Ernt Buschor, says that good teachers should be rewarded and bad teachers should be given training or removed from teaching altogether.

But the promise to reward all successful teachers has been queried by union leaders, who ask whether there is a budget available to provide extra money for all teachers. Instead they anticipate that overall spending on teaching will be driven down by linking pay to performance.