Do you think teachers are overpaid or underpaid?

[MsTruth]

My brother is a primary school teacher, less than 5 years out and he is on around $85K and can expect it to top out at around $100k unless he wants to be a principal or the like.

He does not seem to have to do much work outside of school hours save for around report time and he has a fantastic reputation within the school and parent community.

Based on this one example I have to say that the money seems quite reasonable to me and the perks seem really good.

Having said all that you could never ever pay me enough to teach high school though.

[Mallie]

Definitely underpaid!

I am a teacher in my 5th year of teaching. I never get to work after 7.30 am and never leave before 4pm. I work through my lunch break and I am on duty every morning tea. I do at least 2 hours of work at home after putting DD to bed. I never watch tv without cutting or something else to do at the same time. I work numerous hours on weekends and at a bare minimum 60% of my holidays. (If I have a confirmed job for the next year ). I have to fight for and apply for a (my) job at least twice a year as I am only fixed term. (I am actually hoping that tomorrow my contract will be renewed)

Anyone who thinks teachers are well paid/ over paid is more than welcome to shadow me for a week!

[JaneDoe]

I think in comparison to some jobs it is quite a reasonable wage.

Just for comparison -
My DH is a qualified chef. 4 year apprenticeship doing split shifts 5 days a week (930am-330pm & 5pm-close), working every weekend and public holiday and only being able to have holidays when it's not a busy period (4 weeks annual leave). He is currently sous chef (2nd in charge) at a busy and popular restaurant and is paid $52k..

And just for the record I am actually studying early childhood education so am not anti teacher or anything.

Sorry but I hardly think a chef and a teacher are comparable in the slightest!!!

Cooking food compared to educating the future of our country - I would expect teachers to be paid a hell of a lot more than a chef!!

Teachers are def underpaid!!!

Majority I know are at school a lot longer than 'school hours' and spend a lot of time at home after hours and during holidays marking, planning and attending professional development!

[LilMuffin]

I definitely think Teachers are underpaid however so are ALOT of jobs and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. I definitely feel for those that have to work extremely long hours and I realise they wen't to uni for 4 years and worked very hard. I was talking to my sister about this last night she is a Laboratory Technician for a very well off company and her partner works at the same place. They both wen't to uni for 4 years and came away with very good marks, they currently want to buy a house. We have just sold ours and are building again and she said she was concerned for us money wise. I asked her what she was on and she said 46K a year and she works very long hours my DH is a Qualified Mechanic did a 4 year Apprenticeship and he is on 70K. It is disgusting the ammount of money someone who wen't to Uni and works so many hours is on compared to a Tradie. I'm by no means putting my husbands job down he works hard too I am just surprised at the wage difference and trying to base a comparison as I believe Teachers are paid roughly the same as my sister in Vic anyway. I just hope the decent teachers out there don't change jobs simply because of pay we need good teachers.

[Zombie_eyes]

not to mention the giant friggen hecs debt!


P.s if my hubs was earning 85k like a pp's relo teaching, we would be over the moon!!!

[jade84]

I don't think they are underpaid at all because they seem to be earning a lot more than nurses. As I nurse it can be just as stressful and difficult at times if not more demanding both physically and mentally we still put up with abuse and sometimes violence as teachers do and are exposed to communicable diseases . We still have our HECS debt but we don't get all the school holidays off or work a Monday to Friday job. I can never work out why public servants (nurses, police and teachers) are paid so differently we are all there to help, protect and teach the community.

[jade84]

Oh and we also attend professional development sometimes out of work hours

[bumMum]

not to mention the giant friggen hecs debt!


P.s if my hubs was earning 85k like a pp's relo teaching, we would be over the moon!!!

Yes I think it largely does depend where someone is a teacher. My mum would never say she is underpaid. But also how much money is "enough" would vary between people. To me, 60 k plus is good money.
I also think that a lot of other jobs are quite badly underpaid... Possibly more so than teaching.. such as aged care, emergency services, nurses, social workers etc.

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[Myztiks#1Fan]

I don't think they are underpaid at all because they seem to be earning a lot more than nurses. As I nurse it can be just as stressful and difficult at times if not more demanding both physically and mentally we still put up with abuse and sometimes violence as teachers do and are exposed to communicable diseases . We still have our HECS debt but we don't get all the school holidays off or work a Monday to Friday job. I can never work out why public servants (nurses, police and teachers) are paid so differently we are all there to help, protect and teach the community.

Thats a really good point. I work as an AIN and i could be earning more working at maccas with much more flexibility and much less responsibility.

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[Renesme]

Paid ok. If you factor in the amount of leave they get then I think the pay is ok.

The amount of leave they get? Are you kidding me? You do realise that most of their "leave" is spent working don't you? The only "leave" they get is a break from face to face teaching. Go and do teaching and see how much "leave" you actually get. I think you'll find it's not much better than a normal 4 week holiday job.