A “demoralised and undervalued” teaching workforce should not be dealt a further “kick in the teeth” by being forced to suffer a pay freeze this year, heads and teachers warned yesterday.

In a joint statement, organisations representing the majority of teachers and school leaders in England claimed the government was attempting to “use the impact of the pandemic to justify further attacks on pay”.

The statement, signed by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the NAHT school leaders’ union, the NEU teaching union and Voice Community, sets out the case being made by staff representatives to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) on why teachers’ pay should be increased this year.

News: Heads and teachers condemn pay freeze ‘kick in teeth’ 

Pay freeze: No teacher pay rise in 2021 as Sunak ‘pauses’ salaries

Related: Only 6,400 teachers to get 2021 pay rise - of just £250

Here are its five key points:

Why teachers should get a pay rise

Recruitment and retention

The unions say they have “consistently” made the argument in recent years that the recruitment and retention “crisis” within the profession needs to be tackled by significant improvements in teacher and school leader pay. They argue that any improvement in recruitment due to the pandemic will be “temporary and limited” and will not be enough to address the problem described by the STRB as “severe and persistent”.

Teacher wellbeing

Despite its words about saying thank you to teachers last year, the government is now attempting to “use the pandemic to justify further attacks on pay”, resulting in “enormous anger” within the profession, say the unions. The move ignores the “huge contribution made by key worker teachers and school leaders to the national response” to the coronavirus crisis, they argue, leading to a workforce that feels “demoralised and undervalued”. Ultimately, the government’s decision on teacher pay is “not credible” and shows it is “out of touch” with the profession, the statement says.

Catch-up

“Demoralised and undervalued” teachers are “unlikely” to be able to provide “the ongoing support our children and young people need, particularly those who have suffered a detriment due to the disruption caused by the pandemic”, the unions argue.

Unfair pay structure

The unions are calling for the removal of salary increases based on performance-related Pay (PRP) and the reinstatement of a mandatory pay structure. They say the majority of members report that PRP  “damages the teamwork that is central to teaching and undermines appraisal by linking it to pay outcomes”. They add that “teachers and school leaders are clear [that] there is no evidence that it impacts positively on student outcomes, and growing evidence of a negative impact on retention and workload for all involved”.

Pay losses

The unions argue that the pay increase of September 2020 only provided a “small restoration” towards “substantial pay losses against inflation suffered by teachers and school leaders since 2010”. The statement adds that “the decision in September 2020 to once again differentiate the annual uplift in favour of early career teachers created disquiet and anger amongst experienced teachers and leaders, when the profession already faces severe retention problems”, and therefore this should be addressed in 2021.