Performance related pay

Mike Hosking is off on one of his rants today. Normally I listen and move on but today he talks about the teaching profession and the idea of performance related pay.

I, personally, am now one step removed from the day-to-day classroom experience but it was only last year when I sat amongst my colleagues in the staffroom and discussed the progress and behavior of our charges.

Mike makes a few valued points in his argument and I’m interested to hear of opinion on this issue from both teachers and parents.

He states:

  • There are good teachers and dodgy one.
  • There is no reward for good performance as a teacher so there is a lack of motivation.
  • Is there another job anywhere where talent and individual expertise are ignored and not rewarded?
  • This model of 'one size fits all' is damaging to the profession.
  • The argument that allegedly teachers can’t cope with being in the staffroom knowing that they might be paid different amounts depending on their performance is a monumental indictment on the maturity or lack of it in your average teacher.

Then he  ends with..
“And the concept that it’s a vocation, it’s a calling and you should be simply grateful to polish young minds is a tired old excuse for not actually dragging the profession into the real world.”

There are two lines of argument about wages and bonuses.

  1. That it is essential to pay staff sufficiently so the worry of finance is removed and the focus can be placed upon delivering quality service.
  2. The use of financial gain as a key motivator in the drive toward providing quality service.

Perhaps teachers should be paid for results based on performance indicators established by the Teachers Council and by results of standardized testing?

But then there seems to be something wrong with the motivation of money as Daniel Pink illustrates in the video below.




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