What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation. Marcus Tullius Cicero

The current health crisis has posed unprecedented challenges to education. Teachers in Europe played an essential role in organising and ensuring home schooling and the safe return to schools, despite often lacking support and resources. The crisis has been a reminder of how valuable, but also demanding, the teaching profession is. Teachers’ skills and dedication are also indispensable in normal times if children are to achieve their full potential. But, is their pay competitive enough to attract and retain the best-qualified graduates, and maintain their commitment to quality teaching?

The  Eurydice report Teachers’ and school heads’ salaries and allowances in Europe 2018/19, which covers the 38 Erasmus+ countries, includes the average annual gross salaries of primary and secondary teachers. These teachers generally require a qualification at bachelor’s or master’s level to enter the profession. The figure below compares their salaries with the mean earnings of tertiary educated workers in Industry, Construction and Services outside the public sector in 22 of these education systems, drawing upon information from Eurostat’s 2018  Structure of Earnings Survey.

Only in three countries (Lithuania, Norway and Portugal), teachers across all education levels earn average salaries on a par with other tertiary educated workers in the private sector. Secondary teachers in the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland), and upper secondary teachers in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Finland, also receive comparable salaries. Everywhere else, teachers earn less – around one third less, in Czechia, Hungary and Romania.

Source: Eurydice for the average salaries of teachers. The reference year is 2018/19 except for Czechia, Estonia, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia (2017/18), France (2017) and Sweden (2018). Eurostat for the mean earnings of tertiary educated workers in companies with more than 10 employees in Industry, Construction and Services (except public administration, defense and compulsory social security), 2018.

Primary school teachers are the most disadvantaged, earning less than 90 % of the mean earnings of the other tertiary educated workers in 17 of the 22 education systems. In half of them, their average salary is 78 % or less. Lower secondary teachers earn less than 90 % of the mean earnings of the other tertiary educated workers in 14 of the 22 education systems. In half of them, their average salary is 83 % or less. By contrast, only in 10 of these education systems, the average salary of upper secondary teachers is less than 90 %.  
Salary differences with other professions are more pronounced for male than for female teachers. As shown in the figure below, the ratio between the earnings of teachers and other tertiary educated workers is higher for women than for men in all 17 education systems for which data is available.

Moreover, in all these countries, male teachers earn on average less than their peers in the private sector. With the exception of upper secondary teachers in Denmark, Austria, Portugal and Norway, their average salary is less than 90 % of the mean earnings of the other male tertiary educated workers. By contrast, the average salary of female teachers is less than 90 % of the mean earnings of the other tertiary educated women only in eight of these 17 education systems. Female teachers even exceed average private sector earnings of tertiary educated women in Denmark, Austria, Portugal, the United Kingdom (England and Northern Ireland) and Norway – as well as at secondary level in Finland and upper secondary level in France. These gender differences reflect the pay gap in the private sector. In all but three countries (Belgium, Romania and Sweden), tertiary educated women working in the private sector are paid between 20 % and 35 % less than similarly qualified men.

Relatively low salaries are often highlighted as a reason for the under-representation of men in the teaching profession. Indeed, the proportion of male teachers increases with the education level – just as salaries do. In 2018, only 15 % of primary school teachers in the EU were men, compared to 32 % at lower secondary level and 36 % in upper secondary education. However, other sociological factors also have an impact, and even the pathway to enter the profession could be more attractive. Primary teachers, and sometimes lower secondary teachers, usually require a university degree in Education studies, while the minimum qualification to teach at upper secondary level is often a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a subject field, combined with additional pedagogical training. Their university studies qualify them to work in a wider range of jobs, having the possibility to decide to become a teacher at a later age.

Relative salaries must be put in the education and socio-economic context of each country, and in the perspective of other non-economic incentives. However, teachers’ salaries may not be attractive enough in some European countries, especially in primary (and pre-primary) education. Whether and how this may have an impact on teacher recruitment, retaining policies and the quality of teaching merits further analysis.

Author: Sonia Piedrafita