School Teachers' Review Body: 23rd report
Written ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove on the School Teachers' Review Body's 23rd report.
The 23rd Report of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is being published today. Its recommendations cover the issues that were referred to it in April 2013 - leadership pay; allowances; provisions relating to safeguarding; and teachers’ non-pay terms and conditions. The recommendations seek to continue the process of reform that had begun with the STRB’s 21st Report on classroom teachers’ pay with a view to producing a framework of pay and conditions that will raise the status of the teaching profession, and support the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers and school leaders.
I am grateful for the consideration which the STRB has given to these important matters and fully support the guiding principle of increased flexibility for schools within a simplified and consistent national framework that it has used as the basis for its recommendations. Copies of the STRB’s 23rd Report are available in the Parliamentary Vote Office, the Printed Paper Office and the Libraries of the House of Commons and on GOV.UK.
The STRB has made recommendations that seek to build on the reforms to teachers’ pay and provide a framework for leadership pay that is consistent with that for classroom teachers. It proposes greater autonomy for schools to determine the appropriate level of pay depending on the circumstances of each post and additional flexibility within the national pay framework to reflect the changing nature of school leadership, including recognition of the most demanding roles. It also proposes greater freedom in setting the levels of allowances, the simplification of salary safeguarding provisions and the removal of unnecessary detailed guidance on non-pay conditions.
I am grateful to the STRB for these recommendations and, subject to the views of consultees, I intend to accept all the key recommendations.
My detailed response contains further information on these matters.