Responding as the government publishes its remit letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) asking for recommendations on teachers’ working conditions for 2027 to 2028, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said:

“At a time when schools and colleges are struggling to recruit and retain teachers and leaders, this is a disappointingly unambitious remit.

“The profession needs a pay and conditions framework fit for the future. Instead, the focus appears to be on a handful of marginal changes which do little to address the fundamental challenges facing education employers.

“School leaders are looking for reforms that will help make teaching and school leadership more attractive careers, support progression, improve retention and tackle longstanding workforce pressures. It is difficult to see how these proposals will achieve that.

“There are also real questions about whether some of the suggested changes could create fresh challenges for schools without providing the resources or tools needed to make them work in practice.

“This feels like a missed opportunity to deal with the bigger issues the profession has been raising for many years. We will consider the detail of the remit carefully, but on the face of it there is very little here that is likely to make a meaningful difference to recruitment, retention or workload.”