'Pay black teachers more than whites'

Black teachers should be paid more than their white counterparts to encourage more to do the job, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality believes. Trevor Phillips pointed to the example of science teachers earning more because of a shortage in schools. He also warned teachers' unions that the CRE would launch a probe into racism in schools unless attitudes "improved".

After speaking at the London Schools and the Black Child conference on Saturday, Mr Phillips was backed by Mayor Ken Livingstone, who said if he ran schools, he would make white teachers do two months of training in how to handle ethnic minority pupils.

But Chris Keats, head of the NASUWT union, said all teachers should be better paid, and the premise that racism was rife in schools was wrong.