Why do teachers become teachers in the first place?
Research indicates it’s for a number of reasons, including the variety the job offers, love of their subject or a great experience in their own schooling that inspired them to make a difference in the lives of others. Research also indicates that to improve the quality of candidates for teacher training programs and to motivate teachers to enter and stay in their profession, it’s essential to offer competitive pay.
Teacher compensation varies around the world. This month we asked our Top Global Teachers, if we make teaching a more financially attractive career, will it improve global education overall?
“In India, the workload of teachers is too much in comparison to the salaries paid to them. In some classrooms the student teacher ratio is 1:100,” writes Rashmi Kathuria (@rashkath). “Making teaching more lucrative will improve the global education overall.” Read More
“Back in April, I was fortunate enough to travel to London to lead workshops and take part in a TES debate on teacher retention,” writes Craig Kemp (@mrkempnz). “Many (teachers) expressed feeling appreciated – most notably by students, but undervalued, in particular with their local and global communities. Read More
“I believe the real, unspoken question that is being asked is, “Is it worth investing in our teachers?” writes Michael Soskil (@msoskil). “Is it worth taking money away from all the other places we spend it in order to pay teachers more? The only way to answer those questions is to examine what the trade-offs would be.” Read More
“Without raising salaries to ensure the quality of life for teachers, it is difficult to attract good people into the pedagogical profession and in the long run, innovation, improvement of education quality will inevitably fail,” writes Nam Ngo Thanh (@mrnamvas). Read More
“Why do teachers want to become teachers in the first place?” asks Eduardo Andere (referred by Elisa Guerra (@ElisaGuerraCruz). “We need higher salaries to reinforce, not to supplant intrinsic motivation; and also, in symphony with the intrinsic motivation and rewarding salaries, we need nice, collegial and positive learning environments in the schools and societies.” Read More
“Investment in teacher salaries is just that – an investment,” writes Adam Steiner (@steineredtech). “Simply spending money on the stuff of 21st-century learning – networks, devices, and applications – will not produce results if we don’t also invest in people.” Read More
“New Zealand has just announced it needs 400 more teachers in 2019 than it has and this target is increasing each day as young teachers give up trying to make do, and the experienced retire to avoid the increasing demands from a public sector starved of practitioners,” writes Richard Wells (@eduwells) Read More
“Instead of control, competition, stress, standardized testing and a list ranking our schools, we have warm relations with our students and we collaborate well with our colleagues. We feel we get highly professional teacher-led mentoring and assessment,” writes Maarit Rossi (@pathstomath) in Finland. “Of course we would like to be better paid! But if you had the choice of the above conditions or a better salary, which one would you choose?” Read More
Top Row L to R: Armand Doucet, Craig Kemp, Richard Wells, Elisa Guerra Cruz, Jim Tuscano, Carl Hooker
Middle Row L to R: Jelmer Evers, Maarit Rossi, Koen Timmers, C.M. Rubin, Michael Soskil, Miriam Mason-Sesay
Bottom Row L to R: Nadia Lopez, Rashmi Kathuria, Shaelynn Fransworth, Adam Steiner, Vicki Davis, Warren Sparrow
