Teacher pay

Definitely! I don't think I would have gone into teaching post-Covid when so many jobs became remote.

It’s the money and holidays that’s currently keeping me in teaching. We’re in the south east with a high mortgage and childcare costs, I can’t afford a new entry level job to work my way up, so I’m stuck. My husband has an average wage. So for me an increase in salary does help with retention. I am lucky as my school isn’t too bad to work for.

I do think schools need to find a way to be more flexible to retain and recruit staff. There was a thread the other day about a woman trying to decide if she should take a new job with a 5k pay rise but less flexibility, limited work from home. The vast majority said stick with the current flexible job, it wasn’t worth it for only £5k! My children go to breakfast and after school club and I can’t go to their school day events. That has a value nowadays. Also, I can never have a cheap term time holiday, even when my kids have flown the nest. It’s a factor you consider when you’re weighing up wages and conditions of various jobs. I know lots of jobs can’t be work from home, but the lack of any flexibility (and many other things!) will put many people off considering it as a career.

It's a good question - unfortunately it's difficult to just repeat them, even if you didn't want to put any effort into improving them (I find a lot of teachers, myself included, are perfectionists and you also learn with experience what works or didn't, and see ways it could be better).

Different schools have different curriculums and methodologies, so moving schools last year to one with no shared resources meant I had to spend a huge amount of overtime creating PowerPoint lessons from scratch. The expectations were so different, it was less time consuming than adapting my old resources, for the most part.

Then curriculums change (the new GCSE curriculum in my subject has affected almost all year groups), and school expectations change, particularly if you're in a school that keeps introducing new CPD initiatives - or just has a particular focus on what they want to see in lessons that term/academic year, which is most schools. Learning walks add pressure to be seen to be ticking certain boxes. My department's subscriptions to different online textbooks and resources has changed each year, which affects lessons that relied on access to these (eg audio exercises)

Add to this, classes are different. What worked for a studious and able group last year is not going to work for a very mixed ability class with students with low motivation/interest. That's not even taking into account individual needs of students with SEND, low-intermediate EAL etc.

Having resources for the same curriculum from that school and low turnover in the department helps but you're never just 'done'. Though you learn to adapt on the spot more where needed.

Why would it make me happier? I’m giving my opinion. I think you need to redirect your anger at the one’s responsible, not someone who is on a public forum 🤣

Can you explain why you think they are paid enough?

Exactly. And a pay increase is something tangible and quantifiable. Improvement to conditions would be more effective (I'd take lower workload over a pay increase in a heartbeat!) but harder to put in place, harder to prove, more expensive and less quantifiable.

I'm a secondary teacher and I think there are bigger issues than pay as people have already said. Although I do think that everyone should have pay rises in linecwith inflation whatever their job. I'm in Scotland though where we get more than in England.

Schools and councils have no money, that's the real problem. I think if the wider public knew how bad things are in schools they would be horrified but there seems to be a general resentment towards teachers and our 'cushty' holidays or a smug attitude of "oh I wouldn't want to do your job"

Why would people stay teaching in FE and not move to secondary education when there is such a big difference in pay?

Exactly this. We're spewing teachers left right and centre. Roles cannot be filled
Any other ideas to attract more teachers to the profession?

But certainly not that matches inflation! Working for less than MW is not acceptable is it? Why should it be?

Teaching makes all other jobs possible..maybe that is why.

Also it is illegal to work for less than MW so maybe that is also another factor.

I'm in my 6th year as a teacher. Fought to get to the top of the pay scales and I also run a tutoring business on the side. Sole breadwinner for a family of 4.

Without the tutoring business we would be f**cked. Thankfully my subject is in demand, not all of my colleagues are that fortunate.

Surely the question should be why aren’t the other jobs getting a pay rise in line with inflation.

lets not forget that a pay increase in line with inflation is actually pay stability. A less than inflation rise is actually a cut.

Many teachers won't get the pay rises because the schools budget won't stretch that far.

Does that make you happier?

Improving conditions is a lot more expensive than (unfunded) pay rises. Plus it gets the public all nice and frothy about the “greedy, lazy” teachers.

I think a lot of jobs do a lot for society and they aren’t getting massive pay rises in-line with inflation. So why should they?

To be honest everyone deserves a pay rise that at least matches inflation, otherwise it’s a pay cut. Teachers and Junior doctors however constantly seem to get higher pay awards than the rest of the public sector

Agree with everything that has already been said regarding hours worked but would add the behaviour of pupils and aggression from parents and even grandparents towards school staff is something else in the last few years. I don't get paid enough to have someone try and find out where I live, find information on my children or scream and swear in my face. I dread opening my email on a Monday to find the latest accusation of misconduct or incompetence. Before anyone adds - yes my SLT are great and no police aren't helpful when you are being harassed while working at a school!

I taught a non core specialist subject
14 lessons on a carousel, easy by your thoughts.
Each lesson has to be broken down so that all pupils can understand it and make "expected" progress.
That means that although the core of the subject remains the same the strategies in place for teaching change each time that it is taught.

You may think "simple, always teach the same thing, slot in the strategies as required."

Not so simple as you have to change the lessons to meet the curriculum, which changes every 5 or so years (being generous), also I would get bored teaching the same products every year, forever.

feelingbleh also misses the point that teachers do not have much time for fighting after working excessive illegal hours!

I know in Sctland, pay is the only thing you can strike over, not conditions etc.

Not sure if it's the same elsewhere

Well yes of course. We DO want better working conditions. The sector is crying out for it. If you have the magic bullet on how we can make that happen, please do share...

Personally I think if work life balance, the environment etc were better thatd have a much bigger influence on retention than pay. Sure some leave because they find stuff very similarly paid that for them is less stress and less hours which is a pull factor; but the push factors are numerous and most colleagues I know who leave wouldn't stay even for double the money because the negatives (which could be addressed with adequate funding) are just too great.

We are generally a low wage economy, on the new pay scales you can reach the average UK salary within 3 years which doesn't seem too bad, especially considering that a portion of the year is technically unpaid. Again id happily welcome a payrise, I don't personally find wages a huge factor or think theyre wildly low but others will disagree.

OMG please resign from your job NOW!!!

How dare you get paid from school money and can stand there saying teachers are paid enough! WTAF?!?! Let me guess - part of some chain of academies that suck up money that was meant for pupils?!?!

If they were paid enough, then there wouldn't be such a shortage.

For secondary school, for every day you work it is about 10 to 12 hours work. I work 4 days a week and do 40 to 45 hours work a week. Sometimes more. I couldn't work full time as I need to spend some time with my children.

We may get 13 weeks holiday a year, but it does mean the other 39 weeks we have to work ridiculously long hours. Most the full time teachers I know either have no kids, or have a very supportive partner who works part time!

Teaching is a really tough job. I love my job but it's hard work. Teaching is just one bit of it. We spend a lot of time parenting and dealing with behaviour!

Honestly, if it was deemed a well paid "easy" job, then people would be queuing up to teach.