Teachers face a pay shake-up with greater linkage of income to performance, under proposals sent by the education secretary to the School Teachers' Review Body.

"Pay progression should be linked to greater challenge for the individual, on the basis that increased public spending should purchase a more effective contribution from each member of the workforce," she said.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gerald Imison, deputy general secretary of the ATL, told ePolitix.com: "The remit letter focuses on pay and before we can consider a three-year deal we have got to know clearly where the secretary of state is on teachers workload.

"We are told that she will be making her proposals to the STRB workload report in September and that will be a defining moment in regard to how she sees the job of teachers. We need to know what she is saying before we can comment in detail on some of her proposals".

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told ePolitix.com: "The imposition of further half-baked performance pay measures and a new range of local discretions will not attract people into teaching or persuade teachers to stay.

"The secretary of state is woefully misinformed if she thinks that local flexibility and requirements for new teachers to jump further hurdles in their early years of teaching are going to motivate and retain them.

"Unless teachers' pay is brought up to fair and competitive levels with other graduates the current severe problems of recruitment and retention will continue.

"Teachers' starting salaries are currently about 10 per cent below that for graduates generally.

"Equally, the other prime requirement is to reduce the excessive workload and bureaucracy now being faced by teachers.

"An increase of 10 per cent over three years in return for major changes will be completely inadequate. A 10 per cent increase over three years would amount to little more than 3 per cent a year and average earnings increase is currently running at 3.8 per cent.

"If the government is serious about solving the problems it should sit down and negotiate a new package with the teacher unions and their employers as was done in Scotland."