So how much will that add to the state sector pensions bill, which is now, thanks to GPs salaries being doubled, now stands at over £1 TRILLION.

Who will pay for these pensions? Those of us who cannot afford to save for their own pensions, that's who. Great, innit, working to pay for someone else's pension. (Oh, by the way. did you kow that 20% of your council tax bill goes to pay for pensions for council workers)

Jeremy Poynton, Frome, Somerset

i'd like to know how this is expected to improve teaching and learning in the classroom and at home

francis verity, havant,

As a former Head of a Junior school in Feltham I await with interest to see how successful the super heads from the private , grammar and faith schools will be.
It is easier to be successful when the selection of your pupils is in your control, not so when you have the duty to educate all who apply.
Fundamentally though I am in favour of good Heads being paid well for a very difficult job.
Ian Grocott
La Pouyade
Charente
France

ian grocott, Charente, France

If these measures can bring better results then why not? In this country there is no prize for excellence, if you work very hard and earn well for yourself everyone seems to go up in arms. If you want best people doing the best jobs pay them the best money. People are very happy to pay 100s of pounds for football matches and don't get bothered by the fact that their money directly pays for £100,000 per week to footballers.
BUT everyone is sleepless that doctors, GPs and headmasters can earn better for themselves. No wonder being on benefits is becoming a career choice for the youth.

Gaurav Gupta, Broadstairs,

This all has echoes of the GP pay award fiasco, and look what spectacular value for money that turned out to be. Typical Labour: they've blown all the money from the good times, the bad times are looming, they're in a hole and they just keep digging...

Cameron, Cambridge,

This looks like another opportunity to boost the numbers of ethic minorities and other 'special groups' that are underpresented in senior educational jobs.

Asalary of £200k seems likely to attract all the wrong people, for all the wrong reasons.

We need to restore fairness and equality to education.

Why do we need to employ unqualified foreign teachers?

Janette Bond, morecambe, england

A head teacher is nothing without the support and hard work of their teaching staff. Without dedicated teachers in classrooms a school will struggle. So, whilst the head might have pressure on them, they in turn pass it on to the staff within the school. Therefore, everyone in school that performs well should see their pay increased - a successful school is a team effort, not down to just one person!

Shelly, Worthing,

A lot of Heads aren't worth £20,000. It is their Teaching staff who carry them. How 'dull' of this Government not to have realised this yet.

judy, Liverpool, England

The Government has just got to grasp the nettle and extirpate incompetent and ineffective teachers. If this latest initiative goes some way to achieving this, then some good will come out of it. I do, however, share the concerns of other posters who point out the large salaries paid to teachers and the generous holiday entitlement they receive.

Des, Edinburgh,

Is it just me or has this government run out of ideas?

The GP fiasco has already shown that people do not work harder or better only because they get more pay. What a daft idea.

NB, London,

Another day, another dumb idea.

Martin, London,

Why shouldn't top teachers be suitably rewarded? The bankers are receiving obscene amount of remuneration and bonuses. If we allow a big pay disparity among professions to continue, how do we attract, recruit and retain talents for other professions that breed and enrich our culture?

Charles, Hong Kong,

Won't this fuel inflation?
Rank and file teachers are fighting to achieve a decent pay rise.
Where are the rewards and incentives for the teachers in the classroom?
Nice timing Mr Balls!!

Ian, sussex, uk

I have a revolutionary idea: why not pay not just superheads what they are worth but all heads and all teachers? Why pay them all more or less the same when some are excellent and some are poor? Scrap the national scales. Would it work? this is what they do in independent schools and they are our best schools.

George, Bolton, England

How many?

jj, Cambridgeshire, UK

The inferred message from Ed Balls is that headteachers in the "failing" schools are not fulfilling their responsibilities. How many of these heads have been sacked or removed from their positions? New Labour are attempting to buy grammar school heads into the failed progressivist comprehensive model. No doubt some will succumb but there will be no evidence of improved standards in education resultant from such federations-instead the pressure will increase for more money for teachers and increased spending on larger schools.

Stephen, Antrim, Antrim

£200,000!!
With all the holidays and 'Teacher Training Days' they get?
I'm in the wrong profession

Phill, The Wirral, England

This government really thinks money can solve everything

steven, edgbaston,

Why should a head from a grammar school be any better at turning around failing schools than a head of a successful inner city comprehensive. Surely, a head of a successful comprehensive will have more relevant experience of working in the kind of environment, with the same staff and similar children than the head of a grammar school. If I was the head, or a member staff in a good inner city comprehensive, I'd be livid at this suggestion. I'm not denigrating the obvious achievements of the many good grammar heads out there but surely, it's not a level playing field. Inner city comprehensives present a range of problems and issues that are simply not seen in academies and grammar schools.

Kieron, London (inner city)

Kieron , London, UK

If he really wants to improve schools it doesn't need loads of money thrown at 'Super Heads' it needs money and support put to the rank and file teachers. Give them the support and authority to exclude violent and extremely disruptive pupils and parents. Give them the support to implement teaching styles that work. Ask the teachers on the front line for input into government policy, rather than imposing unreal and unworkable policy thought up by some pen pusher in Whitehall.

Norman Pitkin, London, UK

Is Ed Balls stupid? He is if he thinks that paying a Head Teacher more will solve the problems failing schools then I think he needs to think again. Take a leaf out of the private sector - if some fails to do their job they get sacked and you get someone else in who can do their job.

I'm tired of his stupid ideas and comments (like the one about it being acceptable to increase class sizes to 70 - Is he going to rebuild all school & classrooms so that they can physically accomodate such numbers?

Perhaps we should be thinking about finding a new Schools Secretary?

John Quigley, Beverley, East Yorkshire

Why do parents send their children to Public Schools?
Because their children are not bright enough to go to Grammar Schools. Boom boom.

Bernard Lawson, London, England

"Rewards and incentives?" Hmmm, calculate the average salary earned by a head's former pupils in, say, the fifth year after they leave school, and use a formula to calculate the head's salary from that.

A nice, direct, way of reminding all concerned that the function of school is not to populate league tables but to furnish people ready to joint he workforce.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

Labour - the party of spend more and tax more. This government has simply run out of sensible ideas. Time for a change of government.

R.M., London, England

More insidious privatisation initiatives, as if the NHS wasn't enough to be getting on with.

David Tragen, Toowoomba, Australia

Teachers salaries are going the way of General Practioners (GP'S) lets hope there will be tangible results and not off the hard work of the children.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

I like the idea very much, but not so sure doubling the pay is right or necessary though.
As stated a deputy would be left in charge of the other school so its not going to be quite double the work.

I see it as more like a secondment.

lucy, london,

There you have it, admission thru the back door that grammar schools should stay. The next argument should be the expansion of the grammar schools system through out the UK.!!

Tim, Medway, Kent, UK

I dont think that a head teacher of a grammer school would be able to do the job of the head of an inner city comprehensive. The skills needed to run an inner city comprehensive with unmotivated students and stressed teachers are different from those needed to run a school with motivated students and appreciated teachers. It is common to see in the media comments that imply schools fail because of a lack of effort by staff, but this is not the case. Often staff are trying their hardest under difficult circumstances. Of more help to inner city schools that are "failing" would be knowledge and skill sharing with other schools in similar areas who have new or better strategies of dealing with the problems that they share, which grammer school staff will not comprehend. (Yes I have worked in an inner London school).

Rachel, Wgtn, NZ

So, is the Labour govenment, who abolished grammar schools, now admitting that they are actually better then the secondry modern schools that replaced most of them?

Keith, Kunovice, Czech Republic

Nulabs answer to everything: chuck a load of not their money at it. And where has it got us?

John Lee, Ellesmere Port, UK

it is surpring! in china the wage is very low which is just 2000yuan-3000yuan per month

taway, wuhan china,

Well if Balls can double a head teachers pay a 10% pa rise will hardly be noticeable.

Obviously throwing money at the NHS hasn't worked so you might have hoped Balls might have learned from the mistakes, sadly probably not.

Soon we'll have managers from top management consultancies parachuted in at several hunded thousands. Hopeless.

Damian, Brighton, UK

i might just go out of retirement to teaching, if those are the pay prospects for the future.

Mr. swift, belfast, northern Ireand