Performance related pay for teachers is proving one of the most controversial measures in the Government's bid to raise educational standards - and could lead to a strike call by one teaching union. Many Bradford teachers believe they are disadvantaged from the start. Education reporter William Stewart reports.

STUART DAVIES, a drama teacher at Buttershaw High School, describes the mood in his staff room as "angry".

Like teachers across the city and across the country, he says his colleagues are furious about the introduction of PRP - performance related pay.

And they believe the scheme will be particularly unfair for teachers in Bradford.

The Government says PRP will mean that good classroom teachers who do not aspire to become heads or deputies can be rewarded with higher salaries.

To gain an extra £2,000, they must apply by June, showing that they have reached certain standards and crossed the pay "threshold". Teachers will have to prove "sustained levels of achievement and commitment" across five different areas, the most controversial being improving pupil progress.

But it is here that many teachers in Bradford feel they will lose out.

The Government wants them to demonstrate that their teaching has improved pupils performance in comparison with prior attainment, using exam and test results.

In theory it shouldn't matter how clever their pupils are to begin with - as long as teachers improve them or "add value", then they will qualify.

But Ian Murch, Bradford secretary of the National Union of Teachers, argues it is not so simple. He says many Bradford teachers will fail under PRP because they teach in inner city schools where there are higher proportions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who speak English as a second language.

These pupils will not only tend to start at a lower level, but will also be slower to improve no matter how well they are taught, he claims.

"All the evidence is that the gaps between high and low achievers are getting wider, not narrower, as the more advantaged pupils pull away," he said.

Stuart Davies agrees. His school has been told it is doing a good job by education watchdog Ofsted, but exam results remain stubbornly low and he has already been told that he stands little chance of gaining the salary increase.

"Kid's performance in schools is affected by far more than teachers," he said.

"If you work in an area with difficult social conditions, it is going to be more difficult to get performance-related pay than in a leafy suburb.

"If you have difficult kids to teach, it is much more difficult to influence them at all. One of my main problems at Buttershaw isn't discipline, it is getting kids to calm down and listen to you."

And it is not just teachers at the chalk face who are against PRP.

Richard Goodswen, head teacher at Hainsworth Moor Middle School, Queensbury, says it will be divisive and lead to unnecessary extra work.

"Teaching is not just about individuals," he said. "We need good teams of teachers and these could be weakened by PRP."

Ian Murch also warns that all Bradford middle school teachers will be at a huge disadvantage under the new bonus scheme, which assumes continuity between June, when the applications must be made, and September, when the pay comes in.

But teachers in middle schools closing this summer under the district's reorganisation will find themselves with different head teachers to the ones who assessed their original applications, and completely new sets of children.

How can their pupils' progress possibly be assessed under those circumstances, he asks.

The schools shake-up could lead to more general problems. Stuart Davies expects that, to begin with, standards will actually fall because of the disruption and, as a result, Bradford staff will be further disadvantaged in the PRP stakes.

It also throws up a whole host of problems that could apply to teachers across the country. Unions have warned it will:

Add to existing stress and workload.

Create further bureaucracy.

Leave teachers open to bullying by heads.

Set colleagues against each other.

Leave the losers feeling de-motivated and de-valued.

Many teachers will apply for the extra money despite their opposition to the scheme. But with the country's biggest teaching union, the NUT, balloting on whether to strike over the scheme, the issue is unlikely to go away.

e-mail: william.stewart@bradfordnewsquest.co.uk

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