Does the average teacher really earn £54,000?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to More or Less. We're your weekly guide to the numbers all around us, from Manchester Piccadilly to the Finland station. And I'm Tim Harford. This week, what is the life expectancy of a Russian recruit on the Ukrainian front line? And how on earth would we know? Is it cheaper to fly or take the train? And why? And maths YouTuber Matt Parker claims that every shuffle of a deck of cards is an unprecedented event. Ace or Joker? But first, last week, Baroness Jackie Smith, Minister for Skills in the Department for Education, was on Radio Force Today programme. She was asked about a recent row over the government offer on teachers' pay in England. During the discussion, she told listeners... That's the average pay of a teacher now, round about the £54,000 mark.
Several listeners heard this and had their doubts.
I screamed at the radio. I'm a top-of-pay scale teacher. The average is nowhere near £54,000.
Can you please investigate this for us, as we have three qualified teachers in our family who do not recognise this figure?
Is the average pay of a teacher around £54,000? We asked Luke Sibietta, an expert on schools and education funding at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The average teacher pay is going to be around £54,000. The median pay for teachers in England is currently around £51,000. But if we add in the pay rises that are going to be happening this September and next September, then teacher pay is going to be around £54,000. So it's going in that direction.
OK, so I think we can forgive a slight misspeak. We've all done it. Our listeners are clearly surprised that the number is that high and would like it to be explained to them. How is that number calculated? We should start. Is it median or mean? And what does the distribution of teacher salaries look like?
So this is the median pay amongst all classroom teachers.
How did a minister arrive at the claim that average teacher pay is around £54,000?
So teacher pay is structured according to pay scales going from the bottom of the main pay scale up until the top of the upper pay scale. But teachers move through these pay scales relatively quickly. And about a third of all classroom teachers are at the top of the upper pay scale, which is around £51,000, which is the median across all teachers.
So how is it possible that the median classroom salary is the same as the salary that you would earn if you're in the very top bracket as a teacher?
So this probably all comes from the fact that there's a very, very large number of teachers on the upper pay scale. So there's around a third of teachers across the country who are on the top of the pay scale. That's not enough, obviously, to take that to the median point. There's also around over 15, 20% of teachers are on just below the upper pay scale. And there will be some teachers who are receiving additional payments for being head of year group or head of department. There'll be some teachers receiving London allowances as well, which is why the median is around £51,000.
And is this being driven by the London waiting that teachers in the London area get?
So teachers in London do receive high levels of salary. So for example, in inner London, the top of the pay scale is around £63,000 as compared with around £51,000 outside London. So that will be pushing up the median a little bit. But the differences aren't big enough to be making a huge difference. An average salary level at £51,000 is about the norm across the country. If you look at the mode teacher across England, they're probably outside London, they're probably at the top of the upper pay scale. £51,000 is a fair reflection of the average teacher pay level across England.
Why do you think it is that so many of our listeners find these numbers surprising?
It might come from the fact that teachers have seen real terms pay cuts over the last 15 years. So between 2010 and 2022, teacher salary levels fell by around 12% in real terms. They've now been creeping up over the last few years with pay rises around 5.5%, 4% and above inflation rises planned for the next few years.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:08
2
How did a minister arrive at the claim that average teacher pay is around £54,000?
2:08–6:27
3
What does the Institute for Fiscal Studies say is the median versus mean teacher pay in England?
6:27–10:06
4
How do pay scales, London allowances and extras push the reported teacher average higher?
10:06–21:23
5
How have teacher pay and pensions changed in real terms over the last 15–30 years?
21:23–28:27