HUNDREDS of people have signed an online TES petition calling for “golden thank-you” payments for thousands of teachers who missed out on bonuses for newcomers.
The plight of the “in-betweenies” was described in last’s week’s TES by English teachers Emily Holder and Samantha Gifford, from Devizes school, Wiltshire.
They have launched a campaign for compensation for the teachers who graduated between 1998 and 2000, who have suffered a financial double whammy. They lost out when loans replaced grants for postgraduate certificates in education courses, and missed out on later recruitment incentives such as pound;6,000 training bursaries. They are also campaigning on behalf of former BEd students who also lost out.
They say this group of teachers is becoming disenchanted, as they see more recently- qualified colleagues benefiting from a range of financial incentives, including the bursaries, golden hellos and now the repayment of student loans for shortage-subject teachers.
An online petition urging a “golden thank-you” equivalent to their PGCE loans has already collected 480 signatures from Pontypool to Liverpool, as well as chatroom support. One head of department, on the same salary as a sister who started teaching two years later, noted: “I don’t begrudge her or any others training to be teachers who are now going to get their student loans paid by the Government. I just feel very, very unfortunate to have made the decision to come into teaching when I did.
“I am now a head of department on two management points, which helps, but other colleagues who trained with me but are not in this position are already leaving the profession in droves. Where is the reward for our commitment?”
See www.tes.co.ukloanpetitionfor more details.
