Morris issues threat to teachers

Estelle Morris will refuse to hand over up to £1bn of the new money for schools if teachers fail to accept radical changes to the way they work.

The Secretary of State for Education underlined her tough line on modernising the profession, including a far bigger role for classroom assistants, in an exclusive interview with The Independent yesterday, the day she outlined her reforms to MPs.

Other central elements are to target poorly performing schools by giving governors grants which can be used to pay off headteachers and bring in proven replacements. Ms Morris also promised learning support units – or "sin bins" to deal with troublesome pupils – for every school that needed one.

Ms Morris said: "We are in negotiation with the teachers' unions over a reform of the profession and I know I've got to have some money on the table to bring about the changes I want.

"However, all that money for the remodelling of the workforce is in exchange for reform. The release of that increase will be subject to an agreement ... that we now have that reform."

The cash for reforming the profession amounts to more than £1bn of the £12.8bn over the next three years that the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, pledged for schools on Monday. It includes the increased payments to headteachers that will give the average secondary school an extra £50,000 next year.