Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, commented on the education secretary’s meeting with education unions
He said: “We are pleased that the education secretary convened a meeting with education unions. The meeting was constructive but largely unsatisfactory in that our concerns over the long-term erosion of teacher pay and conditions, the inadequacy of this year’s pay award, and the ongoing teacher recruitment and retention crisis, remain unresolved.
“We are pleased that there was at least a commitment from the education secretary to look jointly at our respective submissions to the pay review body for next year’s school teacher pay award. However, that does not address the shortcomings with this year’s below-inflation award, or the fact that leader and teacher pay has fallen in real terms by a fifth since 2010. We cannot go on like this. The government missed its target for recruiting trainee secondary teachers by 40% this year, and nearly a third of teachers leave the profession within five years of qualifying. It is increasingly difficult for schools to be able to put teachers in front of classes. Pay and conditions must be improved together with sufficient funding for schools to be able to afford these costs.
“We are expecting further talks to take place in the near future, and we sincerely hope that these issues can be resolved through discussion rather than industrial action. However, these talks must lead to a positive outcome.”
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