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?

If you wanted to start a thread about women and their confidence to secure promotion, or the difficulties they face, that would have been a really interesting discussion (and one which some women on Twitter have formed a group to inspire each other). But this is not how you have framed it.

Female teacher promotion is a very complex issue. One of the problems is that the average childbirth age coincides with the number of years classroom experience typically needed to secure significant promotions. And attitudes towards part time staff and responsibilities. Reframe the discussion and put it in staffroom and it would be interesting.

Happy New year.

This thread isn't even about teaching, it's just you randomly boasting about your wage.

I teach primary, have done for 17 years. We don't have "heads of department" - we do all of that for free as well as being in class. Being a deputy or head would mean doing an entirely different kind of job. I'm not sure I recognise the pay progression you're seeing in your little bubble. Plus, if you have to work around your children, lots of evening meetings aren't always doable. Not sure who's looking after your children at bath time and bedtime, but these sorts of statements about "move up the ranks" often come from people who don't have to factor their children into their work daily, and don't have the imagination to see that others do.

Christ, so on the one hand I’m boasting and fuck off you twat (HNY to you bluesteak!) and on the other it’s a measly poor salary.

Piggy this is PRECISELY my point too. As WOMEN we really should be far more pissed off about it than we are.

Newyearnewnameforme
Tbf I was asked about my salary and answered, but if I was just a classroom teacher (and for the extremely easily shocked, ‘just’ means ‘without any additional responsibilities’) I’d be on £40,000 which isn’t bad to be fair.

Why do you promote this BS?

Anything over 36K and you take on department responsibilities and wider school responsibilities. This happens from MPS 6 to prove that you can do it for UPS.

And that doesn't take into account TLR.

Besides your pay isn't indicative of all HoDs, mine earns less than me.
Weird but true.

Hourly rate less than NMW when working 70 hours a week on an NQT salary.

I regularly worked 60 hour weeks in primary. Huge workload.

Interesting username

Are you trying to use salary, on the first day of the year, a day which is known for financial hardship the world over, to, ahem, secretly convince people to retrain as teachers?

Spot on @Winter2020 - I know many teachers leaving or planning to leave the profession and not one has mentioned pay!

I don’t think it’s very conducive for all discussions relating to teaching to be confined to the staff room.

You're not comparing like for like though - if you had additional responsibility in the private sector, you would likely be earning more, but you'd also have less holidays.

NQT salary outside of London is £27k, which isn't bad going, and there are relatively automatic pay rises for the next 6 years. For me, living rurally in the SW that's a good salary. For some of my friends who live and work in Bristol it quickly gets eaten up by rent and bills. Teacher shortages can be quite regional, and I think that's one reason why.

Fwiw I do think there are a lot of perks to being a teacher, however I also think your opening posts are quite goady and disingenuous.

It's nigh on impossible to get promoted. I have a CV that's really pretty good and I go to interviews all the time where the long leet can be 20 candidates and the short leet usually 8 candidates (who all have experience of doing the promoted role in an acting capacity, and equally sparkly CV's). It's like the hunger games trying to get promoted here. Everyone has to work their backside off to do their job, and then take on a whole load of unpaid additional leadership responsibilities just to be in with a chance of getting a promotion. Never mind the additional qualifications they want. On average I do about 12 hours additional work a week, that's just marking and planning above my contracted hours. Add the extra CPD stuff I'm doing that I'm not paid for and my hourly wage is grim. Not quite national wage but it's not competitive for someone with a vast range of experience and qualifications. So, stick your 'teachers are well paid' comment. Not for the hours I work I'm not. Happy New Year.

Souls, WHY would I do that, seriously?

Work in FE where the pay is dire.

Teachers work hard.

I'm not going to go on about the conditions but it's very similar to schools ie no lunch breaks as there is simply no time.

Those on my team who are full time and have been teachers for years are on around £24,000-£26,000 a year.

Full time.

@Newyearnewnameforme

You’ve just grabbed some statistics and randomly come to your own conclusion, I’m laughing so much.

Just because 3 out of 4 teachers are female, it does not in any way shape or form me that 3 out of 4 HT should be female.

There are so so so many factors as to why someone might not want to progress up the pay scale and ‘out of the classroom; with the main one generally being from my experience that they came into teaching to teach, not to paperwork/complete forms etc and in the classroom is where the teaching happens, so that is where they will stay.

I hope to dear god you don’t teach the children at your school that is how conclusions are made.

Surely they are not paid enough for what they do: there Is a big shortage of them and many leave after a few years. You are asking the wrong question. The question is not if they are paid enough but pragmatically how to retain them.

Either increase salary for experienced staff or improve working conditions or both.

But this seems to me to be a female attitude! That we should be content with what we earn and grateful and that you deem £47000 'enough'. In other sectors you'd be negotiating more, surely?

It’s really not hard to be promoted but it is if you insist in staying in your own school and waiting for opportunities to come up

The Academisation of the majority of schools has deliberately made pay inconsistant. I am UPS3 and HOD of a medium size dept and on just over 45,000. HODs of the core depts are on just under 50. We are an LEA school with a steong union and a very fair head who is food with the books.
I thank my lucky stars i got my role in my current school. There are many teachera doing exactly the same job as me for at least 15, 000 less. Many Academies use UP3 as the excuse for more responsibilities and it completely sucks!
I never complain about my salary. I complain about the terms and conditions and the inconsistency across the country.

My husband is part time because the extremely long hours and relentless workload of being a full time teacher made him ill and our family life shit. He went back part time (years ago) and we have never looked back.

This was me also. I was a HoF on £45 000 and nothing would entice me back to that again. I also left the state sector as it seems to be run by people who are too young, usually male, arrogant, have no empathy for either staff or students and who were focused solely on their own career rather than the school and its wellbeing.

I am thinking of leaving teaching for good soon as I am exhausted, properly truly exhausted, and even the holidays do not help any more.

it's like the hunger games . I hear you, surly!!

I don’t think so Piggy - I think that’s more to do with the pay scales. I probably will look for assistant head ships in the next two to three years and maybe there’s more negotiation then but at the moment I’m on UPS3 and then have the highest TLR I can without going into leadership.

I know it was just autocorrect but food with the books made me laugh

@Newyearnewnameforme

I used to be a teacher. Your idea that all teachers should aim NOT to be classroom teachers or they are somehow lacking is ridiculous. And shows a certain mindset that is usually indicative, in my experience, of someone who couldn't do that job too well. SMT is full of such attitudes!

Why is it not conducive to put a post about a specific profession on a board dedicated to that specific profession? Unless you want opinions of people who know nothing about the precise pay and conditions of the job. It makes no sense.

You should have started posting here for traffic as that seems very evident.

...Because if you TRULY are a FT teacher (and a mother, raising children) why on this Earth you would think it is actually a well paid career is truly beyond me.