£10,000 for 'tough' teachers

GOOD teachers will be offered "golden handcuff" payments of £10,000 to keep them at England's toughest schools, ministers announced today.

The move is designed to break down social class barriers by improving education in 500 comprehensives in the poorest parts of the country.

But teachers warned the scheme would end up costing schools more because ministers have only promised to fund half the new payments.

Despite nearly 12 years of Labour government, children from the most deprived homes are still far less likely to get good qualifications and well-paid jobs than their middle-class peers. Social mobility in the UK has stalled and children are no more likely to escape their class backgrounds now than 30 years ago, research shows.

A Government White Paper sets out plans to attract the best teachers to work in some of the worst schools. From September, teachers will be offered the golden handcuff payment in exchange for agreeing to stay at a school for three years. It will affect about 6,000 teachers a year at about 500 schools where more than 30 per cent of pupils are poor enough to receive free school meals.