Teachers in England and Wales will receive a 2.45% pay rise this year, with rises of 2.3% in 2009 and 2010, Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced today.
Mr Balls said the award was both "fair and affordable".
"Teachers are the backbone of our education system," he said. "We know that the most important factor in education, alongside the input of parents, is the quality of teachers.
"I believe we have a world-class workforce that is improving all the time. Today's pay award will enable teachers and schools to plan ahead with a greater degree of security and certainty and at the same time will help deliver stability for the taxpayer and the wider economy.
"I believe this pay award, the first of the Government's three-year, forward-looking, public sector pay awards, is fair for teachers and affordable for schools.
"It builds on the record real terms pay increases that teachers have been awarded during the last 10 years."
