Evidence for Learning: Performance pay

Studies are yet to examine the impact of teacher performance pay on student academic achievement in Australasian contexts. This is likely due to the absence of performance pay in the current industrial relations agreements of Australian and New Zealand school education.

Ingvarson and Rowe (2008) have examined how performance pay might be, and why it has not yet been, implemented in the Australian schooling context. The authors mentioned performance pay as an incentive for assuring and/​or encouraging teacher quality. However, at the time, there were limited methods for gathering data about teacher performance and quality, as well as issues with developing certification for high standard performance across the entire profession. Despite the hurdles associated with the introduction of incentives, the authors suggested that some professional bodies might be inclined to do so, as evidenced in their development of professional standards. Nevertheless, no links were made between the possibility of performance pay/​incentives and anticipated change in academic outcomes. Importantly, since the article was published, the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers have been developed and implemented nationally.