A Warwickshire councillor querying working conditions for teachers was urged to take a history lesson of his own as a discussion over pay got political.

Warwickshire County Council's Staff and Pensions Committee this week rubber stamped a new pay deal that will see teachers and school leaders receive a 5.5 per cent pay rise backdated to September 1, 2024, in line with the government's policy. 

It is the type of nationally-guided decision that is typically waved through at councils up and down the land but some of the background data around teachers leaving the profession and shortages in specific subjects saw political battle lines drawn. 

Cllr Brian Hammersley described the reports that accompanied the decision as "interesting reading", particularly around recruitment and retention issues.

Quoting from the papers, Conservative Cllr Hammersley picked up on "the long-term decline in the competitiveness of their pay as well as challenging working conditions".

"There appear to be lots of reasons why teachers don't want to be teachers any more, and hopefully they are being looked into," he continued. 

"More than a third of teachers and leaders reported that they were considering leaving the state school sector in the next 12 months for reasons other than retirement, which is up 25 per cent. 

"It is very good that they have asked them, there is a whole list of things there and hopefully they are being addressed because we are running out of teachers – it is not just their pay, it is the conditions as well. 

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"This report goes into quite a lot of detail. Lack of inspiration, losing younger teachers, it goes on and on.

"I feel for them. They are speaking up and it does appear the only way it can be fixed is by dealing with the reasons why.

"I assume it will go all the way back to Bridget Phillipson (the government's secretary of state for education). Let's hope her school report at the end of term does not read 'needs to pay more attention, loses concentration, could do better, must try harder'. 

"Let's hope all that has been quoted from the teachers as to why they are not happy and why they are leaving can be addressed."

Labour's Cllr Sarah Millar could not resist the urge to hit back.

"I think we should be reminded that the previous government had maybe eight secretaries of state (for education) over its tenure," she said. 

"If we are talking about school reports, I think Councillor Hammersley might be reminded to go and look back through the archives and have a little reflection on the role that the Conservative government may have played in contributing to the conditions and the sentiments that many teachers feel about the profession, what could have been the root causes of some of that." 

The recommendations around the pay award were unanimously accepted alongside other national changes, including the removal of performance requirements for teachers to climb payscales. 

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Such pay upgrades can now only be held back if an individual teacher is going through a process related to a competence issue.