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Cash for working in tough schools Cash for working in tough schools
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Good teachers are to be offered £10,000 in loyalty payments to attract them to England's toughest schools, under government plans. Good teachers are to be offered £10,000 in extra payments to encourage them to work in England's toughest schools.
Ministers hope the move, part of plans to improve social mobility, will boost achievement among disadvantaged pupils. The proposals to boost achievement among disadvantaged pupils are part of the government's White Paper on increasing social mobility.
From September, 500 of the most challenging secondaries will be able to offer the "golden handcuffs". About 6,000 new teachers in 500 of the most challenging secondary schools will be offered the "golden handcuffs".
Schools in challenging circumstances can struggle to attract and keep talented teachers in shortage subjects. Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised to help people "make the most of their potential throughout their lives".
The new recruitment and retention package is one of the proposals in the government's New Opportunities White Paper aimed at boosting social mobility. Introducing the New Opportunities, Fair Chances for the Future proposals, Mr Brown said that "a downturn is no time to slow down investment".
Currently maths and science teachers are offered "golden hellos" worth £5,000 because of a national shortage. He said that the government's drive to raise standards in schools and to provide support for children in their early years would "lay the foundations of true social mobility and social justice".
We will now do more to break the link between disadvantage and achievement. Ed BallsChildren's secretary Disadvantage
Schools and local authorities have also been given greater flexibility to offer financial incentives to recruit and retain head teachers. The White Paper suggests that the lowest achieving schools, often serving the most deprived communities, should have extra money to retain the most effective teachers.
But several think-tanks and research projects have revealed problems with attracting the best teachers where they are needed most - in the schools with the most challenging pupils. Inner-city schools have often suffered from high staff turnover and a reliance on temporary teachers - and the proposals suggest a £10,000 loyalty payment in return for three years' service in the same school.
Children's secretary Ed Balls said standards had risen and that the gap in achievement had narrowed between those children entitled to free school meals - the government's measure of deprivation - and those who are not. "Academies and now the National Challenge programme are making a big difference where standards were too low," he said. This will be available to the "National Challenge" schools, identified as those in which less than 30% of pupils achieve the benchmark of five good GCSEs including English and maths and those with more than 30% of pupils on free school meals.
"But no child should be held back by their background, so we will now do more to break the link between disadvantage and achievement. As part of the effort to "break the link between disadvantage and achievement", the White Paper also calls for statutory targets for local authorities to improve the performance of pupils eligible for free school meals.
"Great teachers are key to this, so I want to go further now to help heads recruit and retain the very best teachers in the most challenging schools." The proposals also emphasise the importance of support for children in their early years - promising £57m towards the longer term ambition to "make a free early learning and childcare place available to all two-year-olds".
'Head's discretion' There are also measures intended to offer training, against the background of uncertainty about jobs - including 35,000 extra apprenticeship places and a threefold increase in the availability of career development loans, which will be available to 45,000 people.
The new package will be targeted at 6,000 new teachers in the 500 or so most challenging schools in England - those with more than 30% of pupils on free school meals or in the government's National Challenge programme. A £500 training allowance will be available for carers wanting to return to work.
It is hoped the new package will allow head teachers to recruit from a wider pool of applicants but it will be left to their discretion which teachers are the best for the post. The Conservatives' skills spokesman, David Willetts, said that a barrier to social mobility was the lack of an effective careers service, which could provide advice to disadvantaged pupils to help them achieve their potential.
As well as the £10,000 payment for three years' service, head teachers will be able to offer access to extra professional development, a support network and access to the new Masters in Teaching and Learning. "The careers service, which used to be so important, has been dismantled under this government and we are committed to putting it back together," said Mr Willetts.
And eligible schools will be able to offer two new Excellent Teacher or Advanced Skills Teacher posts to help retain and develop existing staff. 'Tinkering'
A similar scheme was mooted by former education secretary Alan Johnson in 2007 in a letter to the head of England's teacher training agency. Liberal Democrat schools' spokesman, David Laws, dismissed the plans as “tinkering with a system which is in need of real reform".
He said: "Ensuring that schools serving areas of high disadvantage have good quality teachers will be critical if we are to make progress on narrowing the social class achievement gap." Gordon Brown launched his plans with businessman Levi Roots
Head of education at the National Union of Teachers John Bangs said additional financial incentives were transitional and minor. "Ministers need to reform the unfair funding system so that schools in the most challenging areas get more cash to attract and, crucially, keep good teachers," said Mr Laws.
Stability Teachers' unions also voiced doubts about the effectiveness of the financial incentives being proposed.
"What teachers in challenging schools really want to know is that their careers will be enhanced by working in these schools." The National Union of Teachers warned that such cash bonuses might only have a "minor effect".
The message of the National Challenge programme, where schools that were once praised were suddenly singled out for criticism, he added, was very undermining for teachers who were trying to make a difference. Spending money on cutting class sizes might produce a more long term improvement in performance, said the union's acting general secretary, Christine Blower.
Association of School and College Leaders head Dr John Dunford said: "While the £10,000 golden handcuff will be useful for the most challenging schools to recruit more excellent teachers, research shows that it is intervention at the earliest stage in a child's life that does most to improve its life chances and so increase social mobility.Association of School and College Leaders head Dr John Dunford said: "While the £10,000 golden handcuff will be useful for the most challenging schools to recruit more excellent teachers, research shows that it is intervention at the earliest stage in a child's life that does most to improve its life chances and so increase social mobility.
"In particular, parenting classes with families most at risk should be the highest priority.""In particular, parenting classes with families most at risk should be the highest priority."
Chris Keates, head of the Nasuwt teaching union, said: "A £10,000 golden handcuffs offer is no substitute for a package of sustained support and reward for all teachers in these schools, particularly those who have already given years of dedicated service and commitment."Chris Keates, head of the Nasuwt teaching union, said: "A £10,000 golden handcuffs offer is no substitute for a package of sustained support and reward for all teachers in these schools, particularly those who have already given years of dedicated service and commitment."
Head of research at education charity the Sutton Trust, Dr Lee Elliot Major, said: "We would welcome greater incentives for those teachers to go into disadvantaged schools.
"It's also about opening up the best schools, the independent schools and grammar schools, to disadvantaged pupils."