Changes ‘will limit teachers’ ambition’

TEACHERS may be discouraged from pushing for promotion because of the SNP’s tax plans, it was claimed yesterday.

Senior teaching leaders warned that the decision to force everyone earning more than £33,000 to pay more tax will reduce the ‘financial incentive’ for people to become head teachers.

Schools are already facing growing problems with shortages, including head teachers. Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, said: ‘Scottish Government income tax changes further reduce the financial incentive to go for headship.’

In September, Holyrood’s education committee called for more action to tackle ‘acute’ teacher shortages. The committee’s report noted a ‘real risk’ of an ‘increasing shortage in the numbers of head teachers in the future’.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS union, said: ‘The tax increases which some teachers will face simply highlight the need for significant restorative salary increases to boost the take-home pay of all teachers, following years of austeritydriven real-terms pay cuts.

‘Tax revenues must be used to invest in public services, including in the education system and those who work in it.’

The SNP’s Gillian Martin said: ‘The SNP has set out a draft budget for a fairer, more prosperous Scotland – where taxpayers get the best deal in the UK and get the best public services in return. All of this is in the context of Tory austerity and cuts to Scotland’s budget by Westminster.’