WE write in response to the technical consultation paper 'Teachers meeting the challenge of change'.

Our school (St Hilda's RC High School, Burnley) was recognised by Ofsted as 'Good and Improving' and each year appears in the National Press as one of the top 200 based on five more A*-C grades. Our 'value-added' score always places us in the top three in Lancashire. We have also been invited to apply for Beacon School Status. In other words we are very proud of our achievements and successes.

All of this is a result of a dedicated and highly motivated staff who are prepared to work hard for the benefit of the children in their care. It was therefore with some sadness that we read the proposals in this paper and therefore we would like to draw your attention to the following:

1. Performance related pay will not answer the problems in education. It is far too mechanistic and misses the point about educating the whole child. The care and concern given to any pupil in our school is very difficult to measure and would be impossible to reward. This is the vocational part of our work and we are proud of it.

2. It is essential that 'responsibility points' still form part of the pay structure. We consider this to be essential for the experience and motivation of those prepared to lead and train others and also for those willing to take on additional responsibilities for the efficient running of the school.

3. Personal relationships are essential to the success of any school. The new leadership pay spine will inevitably cause a rift between heads and deputies. At this most senior level in school this must not happen.

4. Appraisal is extremely important but the proposal is clumsy, time consuming and intrusive. The only motivation it offers is an increase in salary. The need for the external assessor to monitor the management performance of the Head and Senior Team and analyse their judgment is not sound.

5. The proposals are designed to raise standards. The only way to do that is to ensure that teachers are valued and respected as professionals. This paper does nothing to promote the profession as a whole or help it gain the respect it so justly deserves. Only when teachers are once again valued by our government will this happen.

6. School governors and teachers are overstretched with change, change, change! Once again consultation has been minimal and this paper leaves us with a feeling of fait accompli.

We would ask the Department of Education to seriously consider our views, take more time for consultation and seriously re-think their proposals for the sake of education in the new millennium.

B BLEASDALE (Miss), Headteacher, and 35 members of staff.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.