Merit-based pay bonuses 'against teaching ethos', says union

VICTORIAN public school teachers have vowed to walk away from any deal including merit-based payments.

VICTORIAN public school teachers have vowed to walk away from any pay deal that includes merit-based rewards, after the Baillieu government moved to offer bonuses for top-rated teachers.

Details of the proposed government offer have emerged as teachers across the state prepare to strike this Thursday, escalating tensions in their enterprise negotiations.

Australian Education Union state president Mary Bluett said the government's inclusion of merit-based pay measures went against the teaching ethos.

"We will not agree to have that included in any agreement," she said. "It's anti what teachers are about to talk about individuals competing for performance bonuses on an annual basis.

"We don't even know if it would be assessed externally or by the principal. They (the government) said they didn't want to get down in that detail, they just wanted our response to the concept of performance pay."

The government has proposed paying 10 per cent of teachers a bonus equal to 10 per cent of their pay, a 6 per cent bonus to a further 20 per cent of teachers, and a 1.4 per cent bonus to another 40 per cent of teachers.

It has separately offered annual wage increases of 2.5 per cent for the new agreement, while the union is seeking 30 per cent over three years.

A Coalition spokeswoman said merit-based pay was "fundamental" to the government's education policy.

"The Victorian Coalition believes that the best teachers in Victoria should be rewarded for their performance to ensure we keep the best teachers teaching in our state schools," she said. "We firmly believe that a performance based scheme is central to achieving this, and to making the best teachers in Victoria the best paid in the country."

The development follows moves by the federal government to award bonuses to the top 10 per cent of teachers nationally over four years, which has earned similar rebukes from the teachers' unions.

The Baillieu government has criticised the commonwealth's plan because teachers will have to pay for special accreditation to make them eligible for the bonuses.

"The Victorian Coalition government believes the Gillard scheme will now do nothing to recognise and reward exceptional performance, and thereby will not act to lift outcomes in schools," the spokeswoman said.

The NSW Coalition government is also planning to link public school teacher salaries to teaching standards, while the Queensland government will soon begin formal EBA negotiations with its teachers.

The Victorian education union is still determining how many schools will be affected by the statewide strike on Thursday.

About 120 primary and secondary schools closed during Victoria's last mass teacher strike in 2008.