The impact of performance-related pay in teaching: is it fair for all?

It has been a decade since the Department for Education (DfE) introduced the policy of performance-related pay (PRP) to schools across England. They sold the package to schools by stating, ‘The new arrangements provide increased flexibility for schools to develop pay policies tailored to their particular needs’ (DfE, 2013a). However, drawing on existing research, I illustrate in this paper the detrimental impact PRP has continued to have on the teaching profession. PRP has not only contributed to the continued gender pay gap among teachers, but has further disadvantaged and targeted teachers who are from marginalised groups in society. The dominance of neoliberal ideology, along with the culture of high-stakes testing, performativity and accountability within the profession, has led many teachers to reassess their position as policy actors. The relationship between government policymaking and the enactment of policy within schools, and thereby retention, is increasingly becoming a problem within the profession, and therefore needs to be reviewed.