School heads call for 12% pay rise

HEADTEACHERS demanded a 12 per cent pay rise yesterday to catch up with private-sector staff in similar jobs. The National Association of Head Teachers said national test results proved that they were succeeding, but warned morale would be damaged if pay fell further behind.

David Hart, the association's general secretary, warned that heads would be reluctant to implement the Government's proposals for performance-related pay unless action was taken to improve their own salaries.

The union's submission to the School Teachers Pay Review Body argues that the pay of headteachers has lagged far behind that of industrial and service-sector workers with equivalent jobs. It says heads of small primaries earn pounds 31,000, compared with nearly pounds 37,000 for staff in industry, while the pounds 51,000 salary of those in medium-sized secondaries lags nearly pounds 6,000.

Ministers claimed last year that headteachers would receive rises of between 6 and 9 per cent. But Mr Hart accused the Government of misleading the public. He said most heads had received less than 5 per cent.

Headteachers are central to proposals to introduce a performance threshold for classroom staff which would open the door to 10 per cent pay rises.

But Mr Hart said: "If the Government thinks it can impose its Green Paper on heads without recognising the salary implications it only adds insult to injury."

The days of leaving home to go to college are on the wane as the cost of higher education rises, statistics from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service showed yesterday. New students planning to live at home rose to 22.6 per cent this year compared with 20.8 per cent last year.