A TEACHERS' pay freeze until after the next general election has been labelled another nail in the coffin for schools.

Swindon NUT secretary Ian Hill said the union was unlikely to strike but staff would vote with their feet by leaving the profession, prompting fears of another recruitment crisis.

Education secretary Charles Clarke has frozen their pay to inflation levels for the next two years in a bid to head off a repeat of this year's schools' funding crisis.

They will receive an extra 2.5 per cent from next April and 2.95 per cent in 2004-2005 in the first multi year pay award announced by the School Teachers Review Body.

The STRB is an independent panel responsible for setting teachers pay.

Mr Hill said: "I think the Government is trying to solve the problem of funding by cutting back on teachers' pay, which will lead to problems in recruitment and retention.

"People do not go into teaching for the money but it is a graduate profession and teachers on average earn £10,000 less than other graduates.

"Teachers feel they are not valued and the Government does not seem to care.

"Swindon is one of the lowest funded authorities in the country and this will make getting staff into Swindon much more difficult in the coming years."

The review board made clear its decision had been influenced by Mr Clarke's insistence there was no money available for above inflation increases and that schools were facing two "very tight" years.

The body agreed to his demand for a settlement covering two and a half years to help schools plan their budgets until August 2006 and avoid another funding crisis.

It normally produces its recommendations in January but brought forward its report to honour Mr Clarke's pledge earlier this year to give schools more time to plan their budgets.

Salaries account for 80 per cent of spending in schools.

It is believed up to 60 per cent of new recruits move into a different career within four years of entering teaching.

Commonweal head Keith Defter, who is chairman of the Swindon Association of Secondary Heads, said: "I can understand people's concerns.

"If we have got a situation where teachers pay will be frozen then it's clearly not going to be attractive to potential teachers to join the profession."

James Watson