§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the differentials between performance payments for teachers in schools and further education colleges. [73719]
§ Mr. MilibandTeachers in maintained schools are subject to national school teachers' pay and conditions based on recommendations made by the independent School Teachers' Review Body (STRB). Teachers at the top of the main pay scale can apply to "cross the performance threshold" by providing evidence of competency in five nationally agreed teaching standards. The aim of the performance threshold is to encourage and reward good teaching and to help make teaching a more effective and attractive profession. Passing the threshold means a permanent move to an "upper" pay scale. In practice, this mean a salary 773W increase of about £2,000. The criteria for moving through the upper pay scale is developed by individual schools.
FE colleges, including sixth form colleges, are run by independent corporations and unlike schools, there is no national pay agreement in the sector. There is a nationally recommended pay scale agreed by employer representative bodies and the unions but pay arrangements in the sector are diverse. This reflects colleges' ability to agree annual pay rises and conditions of employment with their staff in the context of local priorities and the overall resources available to them.
In consultation with the Association of Colleges, the Sixth Form Colleges' Employers' Forum and the FE unions we have introduced the Teaching Pay Initiative (TPI) to help colleges modernise pay arrangements and to recruit, reward and retain teachers excellent teachers. For sixth form colleges, the arrangements for TPI (referred to as the Professional Standards Payment) are very similar to those in schools, with a prescribed payment of £2,000 to the eligible teachers who meet the required standards. In general FE colleges, there are national guidelines within which payments must be determined, rewarding the achievement of qualifications, continuous professional development, advanced practitioner status and measures to modernise pay arrangements. General FE colleges have the flexibility to determine the precise levels of TPI payment made to their staff. It is for individual colleges to decide whether to consolidate TPI awards into pensionable pay.
We have recently announced the extension of the TPI to non-teaching staff in colleges.