Readers' reactions

Two weeks ago in The THES... I have just analysed a survey of teachers' views on PRP in schools for a major teachers' union. About 30,000 teachers and headteachers from England and Wales responded. Two big concerns were the effect of PRP on collegiality and the difficulty of measuring performance, especially when students with difficulties need a lot of extra help.

While these views were most strongly held by older teachers, younger teachers also made trenchant comments, especially about the idea that they should pay for training and accreditation. They said that, if conditions in teaching were to become more like those in the private sector, it would be sensible to leave teaching, as pay in the private sector was better and mechanisms already existed for promoting those who performed well. All these arguments could apply with equal force in universities.

Peter Humphreys argued that academics should welcome a move to performance-related pay ... Sean Neill

Senior lecturer

Institute of Education

University of Warwick