Do you think teachers are paid too little?

Reallyareyousure.... I have worked for both primary schools and subject specific for older children. Many years in both, you comprehension of what happens in Primary schools is very misguided

A volunteer from the RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) came into a school that I was doing work experience at whilst I was still doing my degree to run some revision sessions.

He had a PhD. I was falling asleep listening to the guy, as were the kids.

He may have been skilled in his research project, but certainly not at keeping the attention of 30 foundation Science students.

He was so bad, that one of the teachers asked me to take over. I had no experience of teaching beyond some private tutoring. I, however, was able to improvise and keep the attention of the students as well as actually teach them something.

Teaching well is a very unique skill that not everyone possesses and takes years to master. Doesn't matter how academic someone is, not everyone can teach.

I honestly don't know how much teachers are paid, but I have a career where I am expected to work outside of 9-5 hours (as in, not contracted, but it's very normal and if you want to keep your job, you have to accept you'll need to work evenings and weekends). I don't have to deal with children all day (which I would find additionally difficult). I earn about £47K a year. I wouldn't do what I do for less. The teachers I know are much more overworked than I am.

@Annabel073

"Very few 'bright, motivated people' will go into teaching and that has very little to do with the salary"

Interesting. Does your view apply to other public sector workers, doctors, social workers etc? What, in your view, is a profession likely to attract bright motivated people, then?

yes, too little. As are TAs. My DS’s teacher has taught him so much and developed him in ways I never could have, in the 8 months he has been in school. Other people do live on less than a teachers salary but I value what they do on a very personal level. For the work that they do, they are underpaid

Very few 'bright, motivated people' will go into teaching and that has very little to do with the salary.

Yes I don't know of any staff who work in Tesco having to sit at home and plan how they will scan items or stock the shelves for the coming few weeks or take people's shopping home to scan for them

No, I meant did you get chucked out of class and made to walk the streets?

Trying to figure out why you have such contempt for teachers and constantly pop up on these threads (and others) to flaunt your ignorance on a variety of subjects.

If you think that teaching has no more importance than, say, a retail job where no unpaid extra hours or planning goes into it.

@Annabel073 showing you have literally no idea of the impact education has on prosperity or peace.

The healthiest, most peaceful and productive countries in the world invest in their education systems, and that means making sure teachers' pay and conditions attracts bright motivated people.

It’s the usual goady shit that gets trotted out on these threads. I assume they do it for fun. It wouldn’t be so funny if it were their kids without a teacher so I assume they have no skin in the game.

‘Teachers have been whingeing endlessly for years about how underpaid they are. Their skill set is very limited compared to many people on higher salaries and this is reflected in what they are paid.’

Thats a bad joke I presume? Or perhaps you don’t have children, because that’s the only reason I can think of that someone would make such a stupid pronouncement

No, the people we need to be teachers know how much their skills are worth and are choosing not to become teachers as they can get more pay elsewhere.

That’s why we cannot recruit people to train as teachers. That’s why there aren’t enough teachers for every class.

I've worked in both secondary and primary education and I've seen the expectations from teachers increase to an unsustainable point.

Apart from the huge responsibility, I wonder if non-teachers are aware of what the working day is like for most teachers? It came as a surprise to my husband (not a teacher) that you don't get breaks/lunchtimes as such - you will be on a duty or running a club nearly every time. You so-called 'frees' will be spent covering lessons. You need to get there well before the children ( 7.30 am) and of course, can only start your admin (planning, meetings, marking etc) when they've all gone home so you often work well into the evening and at weekends. I've had so many remarks about teachers knocking off at 3.30 etc.....groan.

So many things make teaching a much more stressful job than it was a generation ago - or even a decade ago, from what I hear. Behaviour has worsened for all kinds of societal reasons, while sanctions have decreased. The attitude of both students and parents to teachers has become disrespectful and unsupportive in many cases.

I used to compare it to being an actor. You go 'on' first thing in the morning and boy, you'd better know your lines and have all your props in place. Unlike most jobs, there won't be any downtime where you can go to the water-cooler, take 2 mins to chat to a colleague, get a cup of coffee or even go the loo when you need to.

Yes, I know many jobs are stressful but the scrutinised performance aspect of teaching and the relentless pressure of the school day make it very tough to sustain in a way it wasn't 30/40 years ago. As pps have said - if it was easy there'd be people lining up to do it. It looks easy only to those who've never tried it, or who have very little imagination!

It doesn't really matter whether the general population think they earn too little, just right, or too much. If teachers don't want to do that job for that amount of money, and it would seem a majority don't, then it is too little.

Teachers have been whingeing endlessly for years about how underpaid they are. Their skill set is very limited compared to many people on higher salaries and this is reflected in what they are paid.

Yes - but it’s not just pay is it?
we need to pay better to attract grads who then get a teaching qualification - any big standard office job pays better than teacher pay.
There's a teacher shortage for a reason - pay and conditions.

They finally have yes after accepting falling way below inflation. I think it's great that professionals are realising their worth.

As private sector pay rises are higher than teachers’, and iirc private sector graduate salaries higher on average than teachers’ pay too, basing teacher salaries and pay rises on comparable private sector pay seems like a decent start, tbf.

As a pupil at school? Yes, I got pissed off with all the bad behaviour and didn't understand why it was tolerated.

I have never been a teacher. I think I'd rather work just about any other job.

Even if the system was reformed and they kicked out all the bad kids, I probably still wouldn't want to teach.

Maybe people need to realign their expectations in terms of their worth.

Is that what happened to you?

I wouldn't be a good teacher at all in the current system anyway. I've got absolutely no time whatsoever for kids who come to school to mess about and disrupt the education of kids who come to school wanting to learn. I'd just kick them out and tell them to walk the streets. They aren't going to amount to anything so might as well speed up the process and keep schools for well-behaved children who are eager to learn and get on in life.

When did you leave?

They always post this. Think they get a kick out of it.

I was a teacher for almost 25 years and I think pay is about right. London should get a higher weight though.