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Do Increased Teacher Salaries Mean More Learning?

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The editors at Master of Arts in Teaching Degrees decided to research the topic of:

Do Increased Teacher Salaries Mean More Learning?

Most countries have a sizeable education budget, with 70% of that budget covering teacher salaries. [1] With stress on the education system, does it make sense to increase teacher pay?

Better Pay, Better Results? [1]


- Better pay will attract more people into the profession and improve student performance
- A 10% increase in teacher pay would produce a 5% to 10% increase in student performance.
- A 5% increase in the relative position of teachers in the income distribution would produce a 5% to 10% increase in student performance.
- Student/Teacher ratio matters.
- Countries that do not pay teachers well can improve results with smaller class sizes.
- Countries with high teacher/student ratios can improve results by paying teachers more.

Average Teacher Salary for 15 Years Experience [2]


- Australia
---Primary: $44,245
---Lower Secondary: $44,942
---Upper Secondary: $44,942
- Austria
---Primary: $37,306
---Lower Secondary: $40,304
---Upper Secondary: $41,469
- Belgium (Fl.)
---Primary: $41,605
---Lower Secondary: $41,605
---Upper Secondary: $53,233
- Belgium (Fr.)
---Primary: $39,885
---Lower Secondary: $39,885
---Upper Secondary: $51,195
- Czech Republic
---Primary: $29,127
---Lower Secondary: $29,127
---Upper Secondary: $31,119
- Denmark
---Primary: $40,322
---Lower Secondary: $40,322
---Upper Secondary: $49,264
- England
---Primary: $44,507
---Lower Secondary: $44,507
---Upper Secondary: $44,507
- Finland
---Primary: $36,578
---Lower Secondary: $39,144
---Upper Secondary: $43,040
- France
---Primary: $31,800
---Lower Secondary: $34,179
---Upper Secondary: $34,454
- Germany
---Primary: $53,345
---Lower Secondary: $57,978
---Upper Secondary: $62,372
- Greece
---Primary: $32,107
---Lower Secondary: $32,107
---Upper Secondary: $32,107
- Hungary
---Primary: $14,515
---Lower Secondary: $14,515
---Upper Secondary: $18,110
- Iceland
---Primary: $25,227
---Lower Secondary: $25,227
---Upper Secondary: $32,251
- Ireland
---Primary: $52,972
---Lower Secondary: $52,972
---Upper Secondary: $52,972
- Italy
---Primary: $30,174
---Lower Secondary: $32,859
---Upper Secondary: $33,778
- Japan
---Primary: $48,742
---Lower Secondary: $48,742
---Upper Secondary: $48,742
- Mexico
---Primary: $18,420
---Lower Secondary: $23,455
- Netherlands
---Primary: $44,410
---Lower Secondary: $48,818
---Upper Secondary: $63,169
- New Zealand
---Primary: $37,213
---Lower Secondary: $37,213
---Upper Secondary: $37,213
- Norway
---Primary: $36,298
---Lower Secondary: $36,298
---Upper Secondary: $38,684
- Portugal
---Primary: $34,876
---Lower Secondary: $34,876
---Upper Secondary: $34,876
- Republic of Korea
---Primary: $54,798
---Lower Secondary: $54,671
---Upper Secondary: $54,671
- Spain
---Primary: $39,912
---Lower Secondary: $44,774
---Upper Secondary: $45,786
- Sweden
---Primary: $31,996
---Lower Secondary: $32,799
---Upper Secondary: $35,005
- Switzerland
---Primary: $54,339
---Lower Secondary: $62,183
---Upper Secondary: $72,990
- United States of America
---Primary: $43,633
---Lower Secondary: $44,015
---Upper Secondary: $43,966

Literacy Proficiency [3]


- This information comes from the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), with a top score of 698 points.
- Country Average Overall Reading Score:
---Republic of Korea: 539
---Finland: 536
---New Zealand: 521
---Japan: 520
---Australia: 515
---Netherlands: 508
---Belgium: 506
---Norway: 503
---Switzerland: 501
---Iceland: 500
---United States of America: 500
---Germany: 497
---Sweden: 497
---France: 496
---Ireland: 496
---Denmark: 495
---England: 494
---Hungary: 494
---Portugal: 489
---Italy: 486
---Greece: 483
---Spain: 481
---Czech Republic: 478
---Austria: 470
---Mexico: 425 Cost per Student vs. Learning Outcomes [3]
- Between 2000 and 2010:
-Across the globe, cost per student rose due to:
---Rising teacher salary
---Decreasing class sizes
-Policy changes have yet to show positive learning outcome
---Finland doesn't provide top salary to their teachers, yet has the highest average reading proficiency.
---Mexico pays among the lowest teacher salary and has the lowest average reading proficiency. Teacher Value and Student Outcomes [4]
- High value-added teachers see student test scores rise immediately
- Students assigned to high value teachers are:
- More likely to:
---Go to college.
---Earn higher incomes
- Less likely to:
---Become teenage mothers
- Having a high value teacher for one year raises a child's cumlative lifetime income by $50,000.

Sources


- [1] http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp352.pdf
- [2] http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/teachers-statistics.aspx
- [3] http://www.oecd.org/
- [4] social