Education update – STPCD 2015
On 10 August 2015 the DfE published the STPCD 2015 – the only significant difference from the 2014 documeschool-teachers-pay-and-conditions-2015nt is the provision for the September 2015 pay award. As you will be aware, the award increases the minima of the main pay range by 1% and the maxima of that range by 2%. It is up to individual schools to decide what uplift will be applied to the other points within the main pay range. All other ranges have been increased by 1% save for the maxima of each of the 8 headteacher group pay ranges to which no increase is to be applied.
On the same day the DfE also published updated Guidance titled “Implementing your school’s approach to pay”. The Guidance is very similar to last year’s documents save for the elements which apply to the September 2015 pay award including confirmation that “The 2% uplift to the maxima of the main pay range from September 2015 does not mean that all teachers currently on the maxima should receive a salary increase of 2% – a 2% increase should only be awarded where it is merited by performance.”
On 30 June 2015 Nicky Morgan finally clarified what was meant by the term “coasting”.By way of brief summary, a school will be eligible for intervention if it falls below the 'coasting level' for three years. In 2014/2015 the coasting levels have been set at:
- Secondary Schools - fewer than 60% of children achieving 5 A* to C GCSEs including English and Mathematics and they are below the median level of expected progress.
- Primary Schools - fewer than 85% of children achieving level 4, the secondary-ready standard, in reading, writing and maths, and which have also seen below-average proportions of pupils making expected progress between age 7 and age 11.
The 'coasting levels' for 2015/2016 will be set after the 2016 results are available and will be based on the new progress - 8 measure. As expected the 'coasting level' will be higher than the current 'floor standards' and will be seen as another step towards mass academisation. The DfE issued further Illustrative Regulations on “coasting” during July 2015.