Schools get £100m for teacher bonuses

Good teachers have an extended pay scale

By Katherine Sellgren at the SHA conference in Newport

Schools in England are to receive up to £100m to boost the pay of their best teachers and leaders.

The Education Secretary, David Blunkett, told the Secondary Heads Association's (SHA) annual conference in Newport, Gwent, that the government was committed to raising standards in schools.

Good classroom teachers can expect to see salaries of up to £31,000 - or £34,000 in London.

And those teachers with leadership responsibilities could earn up to £36,000, or £39,000 in London.

The cash will not be made available until next year, but the amount is set to rise to £150m in 2003/4.

Mr Blunkett's announcement came as members of the two largest teachers' unions - the NASUWT and NUT - continued to ballot for action over staff shortages.

Retaining teachers

But Mr Blunkett defended his government's record on teacher recruitment and retention.

"Contrary to some of what has been said in recent months, this government has taken the most decisive steps in a generation to retain good teachers," he said.

"Despite some shortages, which I know many heads have worked hard to cope with, we have more teachers in post than at any time in the last decade.

"Our belief in the importance of teachers and rewarding good teaching led us to fight hard to introduce performance related pay."

Earlier this month the government announced a £200m recruitment and retention drive, aimed particularly at getting teachers who have left the profession to return to the classroom.