Do you think teachers are paid too little?

why? I have done both. I was paid more per hour as a TA than as a teacher

because pay and conditions can be worse in private schools! we also have free exercise and sport in state, but few people have time to attend, whereas in private, it can be made effectively compulsory

I'd sooner this was tackled first and teacher salaries another time.

Teaching assistants didn't meet the threshold for striking and teachers did.

Both need tackling. We have a huge shortage of teachers and recruiting TAs.

Teachers can't strike for TAs to get a pay rise, but we are at least insisting that our pay rise doesn't result in TAs being made redundant like last year.

Sorry hadn't finished...
I find the salary of TAs a worry though. They are paid a pittance and mostly worth their weight in gold. It's no wonder there's such a desperate shortage of them now.

I'd sooner this was tackled first and teacher salaries another time.

BUT don't even get me started on the salary of TAs - that's where the real crime is! And no-one seems to care or even be aware - it's always all about the Teachers.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4651549-teaching-assistants-quitting-schools-for-supermarkets-because-of-joke-wages

I've taught all my working life and think that the salary is fine, not huge but enough to live on in a simple way. I'll ever go hungry but equally I can never afford the luxuries that my peers take for granted EG new furniture/cars every 3 years.
Nice holidays abroad more than once a year.
I'd be happy enough with this if the job wasn't quite so all consuming, with people feeling entitled to ring or message asking for a piece of work at 9.30pm or at 3pm on a Sunday.

Most FE teachers that I know earn the same or less as an ECT with very little room for progression. They are often dealing with pupils who are disaffected from school and who can be be difficult to re engage with learning. I’m always surprised that the public are unaware of how little FE teachers are paid.

Absolutely agree!
In my school they are paid shockingly for an 8-4 day and are expected to have a degree / and to become subject specialists

The pay in FE is way lower....

100% this!⬆️

BUT don't even get me started on the salary of TAs - that's where the real crime is! And no-one seems to care or even be aware - it's always all about the Teachers.

I'm a very experienced TA, take advantage of every possible qualification/training etc I can, I solo teach a class of 30 several times p.wk, plan & run my own intervention/tutoring sessions for small groups & 1:1, contribute to all assessments/grading across the year group, often speak to parents, provide daily mental health support to children, physically restrain the disregulated ones...the list is endless.

The parents have no idea how much we do & how we inevitably know their children far better than the actual teachers.

Yet even though I'm at the top of my pay band & often work additional hours, my net monthly income is rarely over £1200.

It's downright offensive & as a direct result, I'm currently looking to leave a job I love & am bloody good at. As are dozens of other brilliant TAs I know of.

I'm honestly glad that my kids are at the tail end of their school journeys now. I fear for the future of education in this country.

Obviously TAs should be paid much more, that's not in question. Many teachers were older women in the past too. They're not now, because retention is so awful. They've already been driven out. Improving conditions may mean they could actually stay and become older women in the role...

Lol, the idea that someone thinks a teacher has time to look at mumsnet during their working day! It's the job where that is the least likely to happen. You're lucky to eat, drink and wee during the day.

Yes, I think they are underpaid.

I am low paid. I earn £24k as an administrator in the private sector. I didn't go to college or university. I work from home 2 days a week. My job is easy. I work my set hours and then log off, I do not think about work or do anything work related outside of my 9-5 working hours.

A teacher went to university, studied, having to deal with lots of children every day, think of fun and creative ways to make lessons interesting, does lots of unpaid work outside school hours? Only starts on £4k more than I do?

I think I should be paid more, teachers certainly should be paid more. I do not solely survive on £24k I get Universal Credit top ups.

I am way, way more interested in raising the wages of teaching assistants than teachers. Teaching assistants are taking on more and more of the tasks of teachers - in my area HLTAs are actively replacing teachers in jobs, and ordinary TAs are taking groups and planning. For less than they’d earn in shops, and much much less than they would earn as bus drivers or train drivers. Many are a damn sight more qualified and capable than teachers too. But hey, they’re mostly older women, so they don’t matter do they.

Im afraid I’ve met far too many poor teachers who are primarily there by virtue of family links and are more interested in maintaining their social dominion and bullying others than actually educating. I was also openly told, when I trained myself, that I needed to socialise to get higher marks and jobs.

Because the demands of private schools are even worse than state schools.

Endless open evenings, Saturdays, lots of trips, parents who think they own you as they pay for you. Lots won’t pay into the teachers pension scheme,

Teachers are jumping ship? That's rather the problem?

Teachers at my private school had free yoga classes. A friend of line teachers complimentary yoga to local private school teachers. I don't see why more state school teachers don't choose to jump ship.

If a maths graduate had decided instead of having a teaching career, they had joined an accountancy firm, pension actuary or investment bank, they would easily be earning significantly more than in teaching. They are so many alternative options for graduates instead of teaching.

I don't think necessarily they are underpaid IF they only worked a set number of hours. However, education at the moment is in crisis. Not enough money is given to education in particular special education. As a result, more children are in mainstream as there are no special education places. Also, for children with needs who can cope with mainstram, there is no funding to give them proper provision so the system is failing these children. Money is such an issue that schools are struggling even to afford gluesticks. This coupled with the increasing workload and lack of support by some parents to instil positive behaviours is what I feel is causing teachers to be leaving - not pay.

I think a lot of teachers over value what they think they'd be paid in other jobs. Teachers pay can be very good and often when teachers leave it's for a pay cut or they find it hard to leave because can't get an equivalent salary elsewhere. I saw a TA job advertised recently for £14k a year, that's astonishingly low.

If she's primary she'll have subject responsibilities and as she's UPS they'll definitely be getting their money's worth...

How long has she been in teaching? That is at the top of band for a teacher with no additional responsibilities.

I think non-teaching managers of MATs are basically parasites doing a job that used to be done by the LEA for less. I cannot understand how they justify they huge salaries.

However, with the odd exception of course, headteachers are worth every penny and many are paid far too little compared to the responsibility they hold.

I’d say about right. My sister earns £44k with no management responsibilities of note and in a Primary. With the holidays and pension it’s a decent package.

what schemes are this then?