Doug McAvoy: "Someone has to make a decision"

The proposals for England, unveiled by Education Secretary David Blunkett in his consultative Green Paper, foresee pay increases of up to 10% for the "best" teachers and the payment of bonuses to those in improving schools.

But the National Union of Teachers has attacked the plans, arguing that they are not the right way to tackle the teacher recruitment crisis.

Its General Secretary, Doug McAvoy, warned that there was a "finite sum of money" available to fund the proposals.

Doug McAvoy: "Performance related pay is open to cronyism and discrimination"

Headteachers and external assessors would decide which teachers were to receive performance-related pay, he said.

"That choice will cause division in our staffrooms because teachers who deserve more will not get it," Mr McAvoy told BBC News 24.

"That will destroy the teamwork which is at the heart of the good and effective school.

"There's really no place in educational teaching for performance related pay based on some re-introduction of payment by results."

Nigel de Gruchy: "The task of implementing it is daunting"

By contrast, the General Secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, Nigel de Gruchy, gave the proposals a guarded welcome.

"I welcome the broad thrust of the proposals to relate pay to appraisal, but many crucial details remain to be determined," he said.

"That will be difficult, but not impossible. However, the opportunity for a major breakthrough for the classroom teacher is here."

The General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Peter Smith, said the Green Paper's contents deserved "serious debate".

Peter Smith: "Worried"

But he added: "I am very worried that it takes such little account of the fact that a large number of classroom teachers are women, or that so few of them, however talented, go as far or as fast in their careers as their male colleagues."

The General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, David Hart, said the difficulties in implementing the plan should not be under-estimated.

But he said it was the "last chance saloon to achieve a package which solves the acute recruitment crisis facing teaching".

The Institute of Directors said the proposals should help raise the quality of teaching.

The head of the institute's policy unit, Ruth Lea, said: "This scheme will help to attract the best graduates into teaching and help retain the best existing teachers. We would urge the teaching unions to support this Green Paper."