As schools in England close for the summer break, the UK Government has announced the pay award for 2022. The Government has improved upon its proposal to offer just 3% to experienced teachers, but has failed to address real-terms pay cuts, or the rising cost of living. The starting salary for teachers outside London will rise by 8.9% Teachers in the early stages of their careers will see pay uplifts ranging from 5% to 8% depending on experience. Pay for experienced teachers who have been in the profession for more than five years will rise by 5%. Fewer than one in ten teachers will be eligible for the higher uplift. NSEAD will be maintaining a close watching brief as this announcement and reaction develops and will update members in due course.
General Secretary Michele Gregson said:
"For too long, teachers have been underpaid, undervalued, and overworked.
“NSEAD knows that teachers are the most crucial component in determining positive pupil outcomes within the education system, and that pay for teachers should be at a level that not only rewards them appropriately, but also to incentivise them.
“Recruitment in our subject is falling, and art and design teachers are demoralised. They do not feel valued; workload is increasing, time and resources for art and design are decreasing. Our members receive no bursary when training, and now we have a Pay Award that once again fails our teachers.
“This Government has announced that it is determined to continue 12 years of pay freezes, pay pauses and below inflation pay awards. Public sector workers are once again asked to take a pay cut to prop up the economy. Treasury officials support proposals to cut taxes, paid for by cuts to the wages of public servants.
“Public sector workers are being treated as the cause of inflation – but the current record 9.4% rise is fueled by rising food and fuel prices, not public sector pay. Teachers are not the problem here. Enough is enough. Teachers deserve better – it’s time they got the decent pay rise they are owed.
“Teachers are thousands of pounds worse off today, in real terms, compared to 2010. They have been left brutally exposed to soaring prices because of these standstill wages – and are now at breaking point.
"That’s why we needed a package with a fully-funded, inflation-proof pay rise at its heart, to help us hold onto disillusioned and demoralised teachers.
"This award fails to deliver that – instead offering real term pay cuts after a decade of lost pay.
“NSEAD is additionally concerned that schools cannot ensure that even this inadequate pay award is passed on to all teachers, and that support staff in particular will be left behind. Without additional funding any recommended increase is meaningless. The fact is, this pay award will not reach many of our members.
“Once again, we see a failure of vision for the future of education
“By failing teachers, this government is failing our children, and failing us all.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
NSEAD and the Art, craft and design APPG commissioned a report in March 2022 which found:
The majority of art and design teachers (86.4%) reported that their workload had increased during the last five years.
Sixty-seven percent of art and design teachers reported that they were thinking about leaving the profession.