As Minister for Education, Coltart brought an end to the ongoing teacher strikes, enabling schools to re-open in 2009. He has raised teacher salaries, although they remain significantly lower than the figure demanded by the unions. He has not abolished the controversial 'teacher incentives' that school pupils are expected to pay in many schools to supplement teachers' incomes. In 2010 Coltart secured funding via UNICEF to provide all school children with textbooks in certain core subjects. He has also set in motion a curriculum review, the first since the 1980s, and is planning to establish Academies of Excellence in each province, with full scholarships available for talented disadvantaged children.