Teachers have voiced their concern at getting a new education secretary, saying the “constant chopping and changing” of people in the job does not provide stable leadership.
Michelle Donelan, the ex-universities minister, was appointed to the position on Tuesday night, following Nadhim Zahawi’s move to Number 11. She is the sixth incumbent in eight years and the third during Boris Johnson’s premiership.
School leaders called on her to act “quickly and urgently” to boost their pay and tackle their “rock bottom morale”. Others said addressing the teacher shortage should be at the top of her inbox, as well as excessive workloads.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Education is a vital public service and a complex sector which requires deep understanding, knowledge and continuity. This constant chopping and changing does not provide stable leadership.”
He added that there are “real and present dangers to the education system”, which include teacher shortages, pay erosion and soaring energy costs which are putting intense strain on budgets.
Teachers also expressed hope that their calls for a pay rise will be looked on favourably by the new Chancellor, who was lobbying the Treasury for a rise just last week as education secretary.
This morning, Mr Zahawi said he would honour a pledge to raise teachers’ starting salaries by nine per cent. He told BBC Breakfast: “We will deliver on that this year and 7.7 per cent next year, and of course for more senior teachers my submission to the pay review body was five per cent over two years.”
Speaking about Ms Donelan, Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said: “As the new Education Secretary, she has the opportunity to win the confidence of teachers by addressing head-on the profession’s concerns about pay, workload and rock bottom morale. However, she will need to act quickly and urgently. Teachers’ patience has been tested to the limit over more than a decade.”
Ms Donelan will preside over the results of the first GCSE and A-Level exams since 2019, after they were cancelled for two years due to the pandemic.
The state-school educated 38-year-old, who was the first in her family to attend university, might also be faced with teachers’ strikes if they do not get the pay rise they want.
Her appointment provoked a mixed reaction. After it was announced on Twitter, fellow Conservative MP Lucy Allan replied: “Seriously.”
