Teacher pay scale

[thatsmyumbrella]

I am considering teaching as a career change (would be primary teaching). One of my concerns is that I have worked my way up in my current career and my current pay is higher than the top end of a teacher (I am not at the top of my pay scale) I would hope to progress within teaching at some point. My question is after the initial probationary year is it it's an automatic that you start at the bottom of the pay scale or is it possible to start at a higher point?

Should add I am in Scotland if that makes a difference

Not sure about Scotland, but in England school budgets are stretched beyond breaking point. I would imagine it would be extremely difficult in this current climate to negotiate a higher point on the pay scale.

I don’t know about Scotland either.

In my school in England, nobody has even progressed up the pay scale at all for 3 years as there is no budget. We’ve had redundancies the last 2 years as well. There would be no chance of anyone starting on a higher pay point.

Thanks for your replies. My understanding is that in Scotland it is an automatic increase in the scale each year. Teachers have just had a 13.5% pay rise

Maybe post in the separate Scotsnet forum then-with a ‘question for Scottish teachers’ thread title as things are clearly very different there.

Thanks I'll give that a try

In England I have heard of maths and physics teachers negotiating a higher starting point, but never at primary. But as others have said, Scotland would be different.

Is the tlr system used in Scotland?

I teach in Scotland. You start at the bottom of the scale and go up automatically every year, if you work for 26 weeks of that session.

You can also apply for incremental progression to reflect previous teaching and non teaching experience. You get one year up the scale for every five years of unrelated experience, roughly. Can differ from authority to authority though.

And staffing comes from the LA, not the school budget, so there's not the pressure to employ cheaper teachers that there is in England.

Will depend on how much they need you in my experience. A colleague who had been a paediatric nurse before doing primary postgrad jumped a point on completion of her probation year. An English teacher who'd ran creative writing workshops for adults was treated similarly. But my local authority always has vacancies for primary and has struggled to recruit in English. I suspect that if they were spoiled for choice you'd be an expensive luxury.

@marmite51 thanks that's helpful I've got just over 10 years related experience

You start at the bottom and move up based on number of years. Scotland is broke. Chartered teacher and PTs are a thing of the past. If you want to get into teaching you'll be on £40k after 8 years. Expect no more.

My question is after the initial probationary year is it it's an automatic that you start at the bottom of the pay scale or is it possible to start at a higher point?
It is possible to negotiate.

But what I would say (as a career changer) is that ultimately the school are getting someone who is a couple of years in.

If I was a school employing an NQT+1 teacher who is asking for the same as a teacher with 10 years proven experience and track records, the real question is "what am I getting extra as a teacher by paying someone 2 years in loads more?" Why is someone just into the profession worth more money than someone who has, say 6 years of good results who is confident in the classroom?

Not in Scotland. It's absolutely based on how many years experience. There is no negotiation. I know in England there is. In Scotland there categorically is not.

The decision on whether to move a new teacher up the scale to reflect previous experience is made through a local authority process, not an application to a school or headteacher. You can see all the LNCT agreements for each authority on the SNCT website.

However, if salary is a point that is swaying your decision to get into primary teaching I'd advise against it. No one is in teaching for the money.

And it was a 10% pay rise after protest and strike threat.

If you tried to negotiate in my school, you'd be laughed out of the office!
We can't even afford glue sticks and paper.