Abstract
In many countries there has been a call for greater accountability for teachers by introducing performance or merit pay based on the assumption that student’s performance is principally related to teacher performance and that merit pay will encourage better performance by teachers: the outcome of the assessed performance is to pay bonuses to the teachers whose students did best. The evidence from numerous studies which reveal that merit pay at best has no impact on student achievement or teacher behaviour is considered. The procedures for assessing teacher performance are reviewed with attention to motivations, recruitment and promotions policies and practices and the perceived place of teachers in the community; the importance of school leadership in its concern for teaching and learning is reviewed. Commonalities with leadership in other domains are considered.
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Griffin, D. (2014). Teacher Pay, Performance and Leadership. In: Education Reform: The Unwinding of Intelligence and Creativity. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01994-9_8
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