But direct pay comparisons are difficult to make. Scottish teachers have a straightforward pay scale but in England and Wales, basic pay is boosted by a whole range of allowances. As well as responsibility allowances, there are London and South East allowances worth up to 2,316 a year and discretionary recruitment and retention allowances worth up to 3,700. There is also, dare one mention it, that small matter of performance-related payments to add to the pot. So, unless you have a love of the mountains or a good malt, the pull to Scotland may not be enough to persuade thousands of teachers in England to throw away their national curriculum folders and head for the Scottish school system.
Improved allowances are likely to be the main means the government uses to tackle teacher shortages.
Big increases in the London and South East allowances would seem an obvious starting point. At present, a police officer in London earns some 6,000 a year more than colleagues elsewhere. An inner London teacher gets only a little over 2,000 extra. In expensive parts of the South East the allowance is a mere 591. This does not go far towards meeting the high housing costs in the Home Counties.