LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — (Marketwire) — 05/01/12 — The government could cause further strike action from teachers over recent reports suggesting that it is looking to introduce regional pay structures for public sector workers. However, according to leading provider of tools, Perspective, the problems won-t end there and could in fact pose longer-term sociological problems.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has warned that the introduction of regional pay structures could easily lead “an all-out free-for-all” and it would have little choice but to respond with further industrial strike action, saying it should “defend robustly” existing national pay structures for the teaching profession.
The ATL general secretary, Dr. Mary Bousted, said: “What we hope for is a banding system rather than an all-out free-for-all in each school.
“If banding is introduced then we would look at that, if that-s a reasonable settlement. If it-s school by school, a complete break-up, then yes, I do think that would be a focus of industrial action by the union.”
However, should the structure be implemented, strike action will only be a short-term worry for the government. Paul Davis, managing director of Perspective, commented: “A regional pay structure could potentially lead to disaster with poorer regions offering lower salaries and subsequently attracting fewer teaching applications. If that happens it-s a downwards spiral that will heavily impact the futures of the young in the area.
“If the quality of teaching delivery lowers, then it-s a fair estimate to say that results will soon follow suit. We already have a growing problem of youth unemployment and NEETs – this will surely just add to the problem and cost the government even more trying to get them in to full-time employment. It will also go against everything that has been done so far to try and raise the general skill-sets of UK residents.”
Perspective is a leading provider of software, with its , Sunesis, being implemented by numerous local authorities and businesses around the UK and subsequently being responsible for monitoring millions of learners. For more information, please visit .
Contacts:
Will Davis
01858 411600
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