Example education dissertation topic 14:

An analysis of the case for introducing payment by results within the secondary education sector

With the exception of the London weighting, teachers within the maintained sector are paid according to a national pay scale. There is no incentive within that scale to either improve subject knowledge beyond that which one takes into the classroom. Neither is there any additional reward to those whose classes are deemed ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. Whilst noting that catchment areas differ in socio-economic terms this dissertation asks whether the time has come to introduce ‘payments by results’ in which teachers would be rewarded for the ‘value added’ contribution that they make to children. This is therefore a dissertation that brings together concepts in the assessment of children (value added) with longer standing political issues regarding performance and centralised pay scales.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Bradley, S., Johnes, G. and Millington, J. (2001) ‘The effect of competition on the efficiency of secondary schools in England’, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 135(3), pp. 545-568.
• Lavy, V. (2007) ‘Using performance-based pay to improve the quality of teachers’, The Future of Children,Vol. 17(1), pp. 87-109.