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?

You’re probably right about that sansa
Placements are difficult for unis to secure and one reason is poor quality candidates. We’ve had some absolute shockers on placement at my school. Hardly any sine HRCT knowledge and no motivation to acquire any, missing lessons, not planning lessons etc. It’s very frustrating because trainees take up so much time and effort. I can see why schools don’t want them.

@Piggywaspushed again in Ireland teachers can take career breaks and come back to their job. I had a colleague do it last year and she went to Canada for the year! I don’t understand why U.K. teachers don’t have these perks!!

Complaints about having to "work over holidays" do get my back up a bit because a) teachers have exceptionally long paid holidays compared to the majority of other professions, b) almost everyone now in every profession works during holidays because we never switch off and c) even the hardest working teachers aren't working through the entire holiday - it's just not true. And if you have six weeks of work to catch up with over the summer break there is something very wrong with your school.

I will say that not being ever able to book time off during term time would be a massive PITA though so I do sympathise with that.

@Parttimers

Teachers in England have been used as a scapegoat for years by the press, governments and in some cases parents.

There is little or no respect and due to the misinformation that is spread by people that know fuck all about the job or contracts it won't get any better.

Even the current pay rises, which some have once again turned in to 'bloody teachers' haven't included the information that some/most/all of it has to come out of existing budgets because the government isn't increasing funding in real term.

Depends if you’re secondary primary etc

ConfessionsOfTeenageDramaQueen

because a) teachers have exceptionally long paid holidays compared to the majority of other professions,

not paid.

Clearly the pay is pretty crappy for teachers in the area where I live, as schools do have difficulty recruiting in all subjects and for primary teachers. This is not helped by the fact school budgets cannot afford the better remunerated, more expensive teachers, anyway. Frankly, it seems pretty ridiculous to me that anyone should talk about teacher pay as though a particular salary is “good” wherever in the country it is received. £47,500 pa might be bloody fantastic in Redcar, but considerably less bloody fantastic in one of the Home Counties. As for things like London weighting, that just sucks even more of the life out of areas that don’t get it but actually still have very high living costs and are commuting distance from London. On top of that, many of those areas have traditionally received less funding per pupil. The United Kingdom is in reality lots of very different areas with very different needs and bugger all insight by those living in them into what life is like for people living in one of the other enclaves...

@PartTimers that is really fantastic, perhaps it's the location where my friends are, big city, property shortage and admittedly they are at the start of their careers. They don't complain about salary or conditions though. And I agree the career break option is brilliant.
I'd consider working in teaching in Ireland, not in the UK.

@BoneyBackJefferson

🙌 yes all of that and the rest. I hear you and I’m looking after 10 years and being offered to go into headship, to go into a completely different field. Whilst I believe in the children I just don’t believe in society and this system anymore. I can’t problem solve anymore as the problems are SO much bigger than us.

FYI

Teachers DO NOT GET PAID HOLIDAYS.

I am paid for 195 days, I get this in 12 equal installments.

Teachers DO NOT GET PAID HOLIDAYS

Teachers DO NOT GET PAID HOLIDAYS

Teachers DO NOT GET PAID HOLIDAYS

Hi TeenageDramaQueen, people like you really do get my back up.

I've only read the first few pages but in my experience teachers are well paid.
I have one teacher friend who is an assistant head, on a high salary and works her arse off for it. I have 3 PE teacher friends who earn very well (between 45 and 55k) and are the first to admit that their roles aren't that taxing or long in hours.
Another friend career changed to be a primary teacher and was on 45k within 3 years (London) it would have taken me far longer to get to that salary in the private sector in London.
I'm not saying the salaries are too high but that they always seem pretty fair to me.

I’m in my seventh year of teaching and a middle leader (so extra responsibility) in a primary school in London and I earn £52,000. The majority of my friends from uni out earn me and the only ones that don’t are journalists.

From what I’ve read on here and Twitter, it seems in London it is far easier to earn more even in primary schools. I’m clearly living in the London bubble, but I’m shocked there are heads earning less than £47k.

Which point on the pay spine is a PE teacher earning 55k on? Just asking.

As a teacher I don't have an issue with my pay, I think we are paid well. My issue is work load, unnecessary hoops to jump through and the constant need to tell teachers how crap they are.

In response to the poster that said we get extremely long 'paid' holidays. We don't actually get paid for all those holidays just your normal holiday entitlement. The rest are unpaid (as we are salaried it is worked out across the year). Yes we are luckily to have the longer holidays, I love the fact I get that time with my children in, we also can't take any holiday/annual leave during term time, for instance my own family don't a holiday together as my husband isn't allowed holidays during the school holidays.

@siring1

I say this as one of many that has had this battle.
You will never get them to believe that teachers are paid for 1265 hours.
I have linked to the contract for state school teachers and yet we always , always end up with posters that think that they know better.

It isn't worth the time or effort to get wound up about it as that is what they want.

" Roles arent that taxing " on the top end of the lay scale with a TLR ?

And in other news of things that never happened...

oooh shall we wait for clav to come with her copy and paste links ?

Snuggles81

Yes we are luckily to have the longer holidays,

Its not luck. Its what we signed up for.

Snuggles81

We don't actually get paid for all those holidays just your normal holiday entitlement

We can't have the "normal holiday entitlement" as we aren't contract for the hours for it to work out.

We are not paid for 1265 hours.

That number has nothing to do with pay and nothing to do with the hours teachers are expected to work.

The 1265 hours in the contract is the mumber of hours heads can tell me to be in the building to cover lessons, meetings, parent evenings etc.

You lie batman

siring1

Would

We are paid for 195 days of which 1265 are directed.

Suit you better?

I was a secondary school teacher before I left the UK. I think the average teacher’s pay is quite low when you divide it by the number of hours worked. Especially if you teach a subject like English where each class in each year group has about 3 lessons per week (as opposed to say, Art, where they only have 1 lesson per week and it’s mostly practical stuff which doesn’t require as much prep). And especially if you are a teacher who really cares and spends a lot of her own time (lunch breaks, evenings, weekends, holidays) planning her lessons to make sure they’re good.

I’d be happy with £47k but even that isn’t really good enough considering the additional roles, added responsibility and extra workload that comes with it. Our time and effort are worth more than that. Same goes for nurses.

Teachers DO NOT GET PAID HOLIDAYS

Please clarify. Taking an example of a £25k salary of a typical fairly inexperienced teacher on the main scale (£22k to £28k or whatever it currently is).

Do you mean that you only get a fraction of this, or are you saying that your 'real' salary is £32k, or whatever, CBA to work out the actual numbers but you only get £25k pa before tax, due to being paid for 195 days, plus 5.6 weeks statutory holiday, plus a few weeks each year unpaid?

Because if it is the former, then yes, teachers do not get paid for holidays, and will only take home the after tax amount based on £25k pa pro ratad for the shorter working year, but if it is the latter, and teachers do indeed get paid £25k salary, minus normal deductions of course, then whether or not you get paid holidays is academic as to whether or not you get paid £25k pa, or £32k pa but pro-ratad for the shorter working year, the amount of money that lands in your bank account is the same however it is described.