The government has pledged to give teachers the largest sustained pay rise since 2005, with starting salaries increasing to at least £26,000.
Under the government’s proposals, wages for new teachers in England, working outside London will rise by 6.7% this September, to £26,000 from the current minimum of £24,373.
Salaries for those in outer London would rise to £30,000, and £32,000 for those in inner London.
Experienced teachers, heads and school leaders would see an above inflation pay increase of 2.5% to their pay under the changes, with early career teachers’ salaries increasing by up to 6.7%, the DfE announcement said.
The proposals have now been forward to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) and, if effective, would mark a leap in the government’s pledge to increase teachers’ starting salaries to £30,000 by September 2022.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “We want to make teaching attractive to the most talented graduates by recognising the prestige that we as a society place on the profession.
“We have set out proposals to significantly raise starting salaries for new teachers to £26,000 next year, rising to £30,000 by September 2022, alongside above-inflation pay increases for senior teachers and school leaders. These mark the biggest reform to teacher pay in a generation.”
Williamson said the proposed changes could stop more than 1,000 teachers from quitting the profession over the next academic year.
The pay rises will be funded out of extra money due to be pumped into England’s school system.
The recent announcement has been met with criticism from teaching unions, who have called for similar increases across the entire teaching workforce – which has seen a real term cut in pay over the last decade.