Performance-related pay for teachers will not mean an extra bureaucratic burden, according to the School Standards Minister, Estelle Morris.

Speaking at a conference in London promoting the government's proposals to reform teachers' pay, the minister said paperwork for the appraisal system for performance pay would be kept to a minimum.

"Some of the criticism we have heard is that appraisal, as proposed, will be far too bureaucratic," she said.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. We are proposing a cycle which need not be unwieldy or place an additional burden on school life."

Estelle Morris wants to reassure teachers over performance-related pay

The conference was the latest in a series of ministerial meetings with teachers, designed to build support for the government's Green Paper on re-structuring pay.

The government is proposing a pay system which rewards successful teachers and schools, with individual performance and ability to be assessed by an appraisal system to be administered by headteachers.

Ms Morris told her audience of teachers and education officials that the government was "determined to ensure that the new system has a clear link between good teaching and good learning".

"What is on offer is not a crude system of payment by results, but a rewards system which builds on thinking in the education world about new career structures and the discussions we have already been having on teacher appraisal."

Union opposition to pay proposals

The proposals on performance pay have met with opposition from the largest teachers' union, the National Union of Teachers.

But the minister said that opinion within the teaching profession was shifting towards accepting performance pay, as shown in a survey of members' attitudes by the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers.

"Polls like the one published last week by the NASUWT show that there is a shift in union members' opinions too. Only a short time ago most would have ruled out any link between pay and appraisal."

The survey found that 57% of members agreed with linking salaries to appraisals carried out by headteachers, but a much larger majority were opposed to linking pay to pupils' test and exam results.

The minister also told the conference that the government was listening to the opinions of teachers as part of the "shared common objective" of raising standards in schools. With five weeks of consultation remaining, the Green Paper had so far prompted 16,000 written responses.

"With an extended pay range and an additional £1bn investment, the package represents one of the biggest opportunities ever presented to teachers," said Ms Morris.