Teachers Salaries Around the Globe

Teaching is the one profession that forms the basis of all other professions. Teachers not only educate our children but nurture them with love and groom their personalities. Many females enter the profession with great zest, hoping to connect with children. However, the lack of opportunities to grow and the low pay scale, disappoint many of them.
Schools often overburden teachers. Imagine that we ask a dentist to take ten patients at one time in one room and treat all of them at the same time. That is near to impossible. But we do make our teachers take a class of 15-20 students at a time and expect her to individually educate each child.

 

Before you blame a teacher,
Remember she’s only human,
Before you point out her mistake,
Remember how she’s looked after your child,
Before you consider her careless,
Remember she’s been working all day making sure your child is educated,
Respect teachers so that children learn to respect them too!

 

Worldwide Trends

The year 2019 witnessed many strikes from teachers in the US. These strikes were regarding poor pay scales. The average pay of an American teacher is about $39,000 a year. In Luxembourg, the salary of a teacher with no experience is $70,000 a year while that of a well-experienced teacher is around $124,000 yearly. Hence teachers in Luxembourg make 30% more than their counterparts in the rest of the world. Germany and Denmark also pay their teachers well. While in Canada, the US and New Zealand, teachers earn well by the end of their careers when they have gained a lot of experience.

In Columbia, teachers spend 1200 hours per year while the compensation paid is quite low. In the US, about 44% of teachers leave the profession five years after joining due to poor pay. Some take up a second job along with teaching. Some teachers feel pressured to teach specific content and eventually loose interest. These teachers enter the field with a passion to teach kids with love. However, most of them are dissatisfied with the high level of uniformity of their job and are forced to leave the profession.

 

Lack of Creativity and Growth Opportunities

So along with low pay, lack of creativity and control over their work, also demotivates teachers. This is also the case in most parts of the world, Pakistan included. Nations that value their teachers and keep them happy are ones that are flourishing.  Teachers will be content and perform better when they are well-compensated and given growth opportunities.

Private schools are doing good but they tend to control what teachers should be teaching in class and not giving teachers the authority to be independent. The pressure to complete the course does not allow the teacher to creatively conduct the class and try something new. Hence qualified and enthusiastic teachers often leave the field due to lack of control and/or poor pay scale.

We really need to change this before we loose good teachers. Even private schools will turn into public schools if they continue teaching uniform syllabi in the race to cover more content than others.

Sources:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/most-and-least-paid-teachers-in-the-world_b_8970800
https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-salaries-by-country-2017-5