Pay scales in England

[Heshcher]

I currently teach an a British school abroad but I will be returning to the UK in January. I have an offer from a school (not in London in case that is relevant) who want me to go onto the pay scale at M4. I think they have judged this based on my current wages but we use a different currency and the cost of living is different so it's not an easy comparison. I did my PGCE and NQT in England and I have been teaching in the same private British school overseas ever since. I am now in my 6th year of teaching here. Does M4 sound like a reasonable offer for someone who has been teaching as long as me? I thought people usually went up one step on the payscale each year after their NQT, which would put me on M6.

I'd def try to negotiate for more.

How many points do they have on their scale - some areas only have 4, so would be top of the scale

They have 6 points on their scale. I'm not at the top.

There is no longer pay portability within English schools and they certainly don't have to recognise pay levels from abroad. Basically, you get what you can negotiate. At least they are not offering M1!

I think it depends on the area and how many applicants there are. Around Notts you'd be doing well to move to a new primary on M6, even if you'd been teaching in the county already. Lots of primary teachers in England feel quite trapped if they're on M6/UPS as schools will often take cheaper applicants where they can.

A lot of adverts around here specify M1-3 so you either need to be inexperienced or willing to take the hit on your pay to apply. They wouldn't negotiate higher than M3 even for people with 10 years plus experience. Budgets are just too tight!