Why teachers aren't paid fairly around the world

There are 35 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 6,826 times. The latest Post () was by Rice.

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    I am not sure if this is a thing of Argentina and my home country, which are incidentally two countries that pay very little their teachers, so I am interested to hear your stories.


    Are teachers paid fairly in your home country? Can they live on their salary?

    I am aware that a lot depends on where you live (urban/rural location) and what kind of spender are you, but I am surprised to hear of a friend, who is a teacher in a bilingual school (26 hours a week) and gives private classes on the side, who cannot live here.

    He says he cannot afford to rent where he is currently living (San Isidro) and even less to support his family, as his partner is unemployed.


    I have no idea of how much he actually earns - I guess around 40,000 ARS per month, which was roughly 1000 USD before the PASO and now 700 USD. He gets health insurance through his employer, so that one less expense.

    To me, it doesn't seem an utterly low wage for Argentina. Algo no me cierra.


    Anyway, I am pretty sure that teachers working in public school earn half of that or 60% of that amount. So, why do we treat our teachers so badly?

    I know in Denmark, many state employed people like teachers, police etc., No way can afford to live in the city!!!!! The advantage is that the capital is smaller, and it's easy to commute 20 km quick.

    Anyway, something that the people could learn here is, the percentage of your salary that is used for rent......in Denmark in general I think it's round 2/3!!!! Here the people cry because it's maybe half!!!!

    Like you mentioned yourself: 24 hours work......it's half day.......in the school of the misses, many of the teachers do two shifts....which then adds up to more or less a normal working day in Europe....and then easily cash 50k (per shift)

    On top I think the teachers job was never considered a job to get quick rich in anywhere.....then u better choose another job. Barradel another creep, sorry, fat bastard taking families hostage in a cheap way.

    It reminds me a little of the debate in some European countries where you have poorer groups of people trying to sue that state for not being able to live in the city......also immigrants pulling that card some places. Remember how it went in Sweden some years ago....the immigrants what placed in a dream location, but outside of a bigger city.....they sued the state and managed to win I think :facepalm:


    Edit:

    Just did a quick search on internet regarding housing percentage of your income....saids it should be round 30%!!!

    That number would be total impossible in Copenhagen for sure!!!! (As a teacher, not as a CEO!!!)


    Average public teacher salary 30.000 DKK, round 4000 USD gross......but in DK u have huge tax burden, so u would end up with round 2000-2500 USD! Remember, the living costs in DK would be A LOT more than here!!!

    My wife ended up being a teacher here after her mother pulled her out of Uni at La Plata where she was studying law. (during the dictatorship) Although she hated her mother at the time for doing it she said it turned out for the best as she loved teaching and thinks most lawyers she knows are arses anyway. :D


    She agrees the pay here is rubbish and resources are awful . UK teachers are pretty well paid in comparison.

    Isn't it funny how random your actual choice of profession are, in many cases......I would guess many are totally lost to start with including myself.

    That's why you have in Scandinavian countries, several tours or working practice very early in your schoollife....several weeks. I remember my first tour of work practice was in 8th grade by age 15.....half day school half day work, during several weeks. Then again in 9 and 10 grade several weeks work practice.......you could decide yourself, as long as you could find a willing company to take you! Otherwise you would be provide with one! Was a great way to get a first impression of a job. I remember I was persistent to try and get an interesting place, I managed to find a flight mechanic and pilot place in 9th and a full pilot place in 10th!!!! The lazy weed smokers ended up at the town municipality and so on hahahaha great!

    I remember the discussion back in time here in Argentina about doing something similar......holy smoke.....you can very well imagine how that went!!!!!

    Anyway it's an important step in your life and you need to try to get as much info as possible and visit fairs etc and so on.

    Anyway already on that stage your get quite well informed about what to expect.......

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    Quote from JAN

    Just did a quick search on internet regarding housing percentage of your income....saids it should be round 30%!!!

    That number would be total impossible in Copenhagen for sure!!!! (As a teacher, not as a CEO!!!)


    Average public teacher salary 30.000 DKK, round 4000 USD gross......but in DK u have huge tax burden, so u would end up with round 2000-2500 USD! Remember, the living costs in DK would be A LOT more than here!!!

    30% for rent is standard advice from finance advisors. Personally, I was spending 25% of my income in Italy on rent, but I lived in a small town (10,000 inhabitants) and I was also working in another small town of the same size, but for a large company with HQ in Milan, so I think I was earning more and spending less.


    What didn't cut the deal for me was that utilities were extremely expensive, especially heating. At least one month salary per year was spent in gas for heating and we were constantly adjusting the house temperature. Of course, heating was on only when we were home, we scheduled for it to start about 30' before we came back home, but if we stopped to grocery shop on our way back from the office, that was an hour of wasted heating.

    We also kept it to a minimum.


    Now I am under the heating fan set at 24°C. I feel spoiled. :asswave:


    I also eat more greens here, because they are SO affordable. In Italy veggies are expensive, especially those sold in small stores. I shopped at LIDL and Penny, which are two discount chains, but they don't carry the same selection (nor quality) as standard supermarkets.

    What is a teacher on here per month now, around 35,000 pesos? I mean that's 420,000 pesos a year which is awful for teachers in comparison around the world.


    I never went to high school after age 13 and moved through university education regardless, so I have a bias view on the importance of teachers. That said, one could argue for the apparant role teachers fulfill they are not paid enough in any country. However, here is an article about the best and worst paid nations for teachers, and it shows that most countries pay their teachers better than Arg.


    https://www.businessinsider.co…alaries-by-country-2017-5


    It is worth noting teachers here only work half the day for that basic salary and many add to it by also going to another school (or the same one) and working in the afternoon too. My former sister-in-law is a teacher and last year she was on (if I remember correctly) 22,000 pesos as an elementry school teacher in the morning. She would also work the afternoon and get another 18,000. So, she was earning 40,000 a month last year for a full day work.


    We could also argue they get what they deserve considering the schooling here. I always wonder what the genuinely good teachers in Argentina think of the situation here in terms of curriculum and overall quality of education.

    Semigoodlooking ...


    I hope that index of wages for salaries is a weighed index...... otherwise, what a useless index!!!!!:/


    Imagine teachers in Luxembourg and Switzerland earning more than here, how absurd....:D


    If you would look at minimum wages in general in any of the countries and then put the teacher salary on the side, probably most countries would be very similar......always quite close to minimum.

    I don't know any country where a teacher is a high earner.....more low to low middle.

    I spent most of my working life in Scotland 'teaching' although it was vocational rather than in schools. Wouldn't say my salary was great although I wasn't in it for the money. I personally think it's the type of person you are that makes you a good teacher rather than the size of your wage packet.

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    I remember seeing this interview to a Spanish primary teach earning 2100 euros per month, after 26 years on the job.



    I think in Italy high school teachers are paid around 1600 euros, on average. At the beginning they get €1350, up to €1900 at the end of their career.

    But it is hard to get a permanent job in the public school system, and private schools are not very common in Italy, so there is not much of a parallel market. It is very common to offer private classes to high school students, especially in math, biology, Latin. These can be paid from €15 per hour (if taught by a University student) to €30 per hour, if taught by a high school teacher with a lot of experience in bigger cities like Rome or Milan.

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    Quote from Rice

    Then private tutoring is the way to go -


    It seems outrageous that a teacher would have to take a second job just to be able to afford to keep the first job.

    Here in Argentina, a lot of people have to work multiple jobs to keeps their head over water. I find this very discouraging!

    I used to think that if a job can't pay your bills, the it is not a job. But here the phenomenon is so extensive that it would be like having so serious job. The economy here is too messed up.

    @rice....I'm electrician, architect, professional race driver, artist, philosof, intelectual and and and in Argentinian terms......so call them what u want! Hahahaha.....:D

    I needed a certificate for my electrical instalations in my house, to certify their completion and stand....I needed it for having edenor to change the state from "in construction" to residential.....nearly 3 times the rate......so I asked my neighbor which is professional electrician......"yes, I could make the paper, but edenor need someone else to do it, I cannot sign that...." Ok....I knew what that meant hahahaha.......he is kind of "electrician".....and not certified electrician.....even that he works as a professional electrician in a company.......ok be it......on mercadolibre I found someone that did in from a distance, just needed pics of the boxes, inlet of cables and house ..... welcome to Argentina :mexican:

    Quote from serafina

    You are killing me, @JAN. Or maybe your ML electrician will kill you first :D

    Was thinking that myself. ^^


    Our electrician is always hard to get hold of he's so busy....so is our plumber come to think of it. Both seem to do very well for themselves. I asked the wife if tradesmen like them have to be officially registered as qualified given they're tinkering with stuff that could kill you if done wrong. She just looked at me.....