To think teachers are quite well paid?

[Newyearnewnameforme]

Not intended goadily but my salary is more than most of my graduate friends.

Obviously, it isn’t Rockefeller standards but AIBU to think it’s actually OK?

I haven’t bashed anybody. I believe that teachers are fairly well paid and that is it, really. The troll hunting is really getting boring now though. People can want to discuss issues pertaining to teaching without being a troll.

There are frequently times where I find myself disagreeing with the majority of teachers. I am still very much a teacher. I can’t really prove that without as I say giving away my identity which I’m not prepared to do!

YANBU

I remember a year or two ago, teacher in Scotland were on strike and one being interviewed said she "only" earned £36,000 and I remember the interviewer (quite rightly) let out a scoff and the teacher wasn't happy.

The interviewer got a lot of agreement online though.

It was more than I was earning (at the time). I work 9-5 but do lots of evening and weekend working at home.

I get less holidays than the teachers get and I can't take DD to work with me (many teachers I know work at their DCs schools).

Teachers get great benefits, pension and unionised workplaces.

I have sympathy re: difficult pupils but not when it comes to salaries.

Teachers starting wage in Ireland is 36k and they work up to 69k with no extra responsibilities!! Up to 50k after 8-10years and you go up regardless, it is NOT performance related! Much better than the U.K.!!

The unions are pretty non existent now, to be honest, in England at any rate. That’s certainly been my personal experience

Good is relative though, isn't it? If the cost of living is so high that a "good" salary leaves a family with very little to live on, it's difficult to maintain the view that it's "good" - by definition, it's only just adequate. The only positive attribute is that it's not inadequate or catastrophic, but that's a fairly low bar.

They are two different things, cost of living and salary, but I'm acutely conscious of the fact that my salary is identical to my colleague with 3 children, but goes much further. By virtue of that, whilst my salary is good; hers is more like OK. And of course we're both much luckier than many.

The unions are legal protection and nothing more nowadays.

@fedup21 sorry I meant 12.5 hours per week! 0.4? I don’t know we don’t work it like that. I’m in Ireland where teacher’s pay is WAY better!!

Ahh, ok. In England, part time roles are described like that-0.2 being 1 day, 0.4 being 2 days etc.

How many days do you work a week if you do 12.5 hours a week?

Teaching is rubbish pay, my husband is one. Unless you have climbed the ladder over many years and taken on leadership roles it is terrible. My husband career changed in his 30s, he had a very good degree and masters before he went to do pgce he just couldn't get a job in the area he wanted to (ridiculously competitive and more who you know kind of thing). Compared to his friends with the same degree and masters they are all on over 100k a year and a couple are self made millionaires. He's happy he made the leap into teaching but the pay (and workload!) is the worst part of it all.

A friend of mine is just about to leave teaching after 12 years, she's career changing to a totally different field and after a 4 month course will start off on the same she was on in teaching after 12 years (40k).

I don’t know screamed, I think what you are saying would be true regardless of the cost of living. I do agree the cost of living is far too high with regard to housing and to childcare in particular but then again we all do make choices and we have to live with the results of those choices.

But chocolate that’s quite contradictory.

You complain your husband couldn’t get a job earning 100k but then nor could the majority of people. It doesn’t make what he does earn shit.

A friend of mine is just about to leave teaching after 12 years, she's career changing to a totally different field and after a 4 month course will start off on the same she was on in teaching after 12 years (40k)

Sounds good! Do tell-what is she retraining to do?!

I was a teacher for many years but also changed career later in life.

I felt the pay was low for the hours I worked- the time taken to mark and prep outside of school hours.

My DH was earning double+ what my salary would have been if I'd stayed at top of basic pay scale and he was a science graduate in industry.

It's fine if you want to move into senior management and there are more options in secondary schools compared to primary schools.

I had friends earning low £40Ks leading up to retirement age, who had taken on additional responsibilities - SEN/ dep heads etc in primary - but those jobs are few and far between.

In the SE a teacher's salary alone (lower pay scale) won't buy you a house ( average cost here is £200K for a 1-bed flat).

It's fine as a 2nd income if the other partner is on a similar salary or higher .

Starting salaries for teachers are going up to £25K.

Compared to London law firms or banks, that is very low. Friends' children started on around £45K in the City, in commerce.

@fedup21
2 days one week, 3 days the next. Hours- 9.00-3.40 (40mins of breaktimes!, which we actually take!! 🤣)

Mumsnet will know then that I’ve been ‘trolling’ as a teacher for a considerable period of time, hopo

The unions are legal protection and nothing more nowadays.

Entirely the aim of the range of legislation that has been passed in recent years including the Trade Union Act 2016.

How many graduates end up working for London law firms or banks, though?

Of course, some do, but not all or indeed most of them.

@Newyearnewnameforme

Cool story.

"you don’t get paid more or less according to how many children you have after all grin"

Oh, you sweet summer child.

"hours 9 till 3.40"

Not a teacher.

How many graduates end up working for London law firms or banks, though?

Agree not many, but if teaching wants to attract the 'brightest and the best' which they keep saying they do, the salaries have to match what good grads can get elsewhere.

I know someone who did the Teach First scheme, but they didn't want to stay in teaching. They are now earning around £200K pa and have been for some years in the IT sector.

No one goes into teaching for the money!

It's a vocation, fits in with school hours and holidays ( to an extent) , is reasonably secure compared to other jobs, and that's why it's a female dominated professions.

On the whole, there is no shortage of teachers. There are shortages in some subjects because those graduates (mainly sciences rather than humanities) can earn a lot more in other professions. If there was a huge shortage, salaries would have to rise- supply and demand.

Sorry I meant 2.40!! A day is 9.00-2.40! Oops

@malylis yes I got it wrong it’s 9.00-2.40...

"They are my colleagues, not my staff."

Yes but I said staff not "your staff". The zero respect is true either way.