Commenting as Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi talks more this morning about the 'levelling up premium' for maths and science teachers announced by the Prime Minister yesterday, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“We’re pleased to hear that the new Education Secretary is taking a pragmatic look at the issues around recruitment and retention of teachers and school leaders.

“We would agree that the best thing to do is to listen to the pay review body for teaching. The salaries of teachers and leaders have declined against inflation for the last decade, undermining their real value and making teaching uncompetitive in relation to other professional graduate occupations.

“We would hope that the government will also be prepared to wrestle with some of the more fundamental problems that are causing teachers and leaders to leave the profession, like the damagingly high levels of accountability and unmanageable workload.”