Teaching is a job like no other. It’s unique in combining a rich
range of professional skills with creativity, excitement and
personal satisfaction – and a sense of making a real difference
to the lives of children.
Teaching is a hugely rewarding career, not just in the lifelong
impact teachers can have but also in terms of salary, pension and
development.
Here’s everything you need to know about a career in teaching.
Qualified teachers have a starting salary of at least
£28,000
The starting salary for a newly qualified teacher is at least
£28,000 and this is set to rise to £30,000. In
Inner London the starting salary is more; at least £34,500.
Teachers receive annual pay rises through an independent pay
review process, and many teachers also see greater uplifts by
progressing up the pay scales.
Most teachers in the first few years of their career will receive
pay rises of up to 15.9% this year, from the
combination of the pay award and progression up the pay scale.
And around 40% of experienced teachers below the top of
their pay range will also get pay increases through
progression or promotion, on top of the 5% pay award.
For classroom teachers the median salary across the
country was £39,500 in November 2021 – above the
national full-time median of £33,200 (according to ONS
data). The pay rise of 5% for experienced teachers is
equivalent to an extra £2,000 per year.
Headteachers’ pay is in the top 10% in the
country
In leadership positions the rewards are even greater –
the average salary for a headteacher in a primary school
in November 2021 was £67,400 while the average salary for a
secondary school headteacher was £94,900. Both figures
put headteachers among the top 10% of earners in the country.
The 5% pay rise for headteachers is equivalent to an increase of
£3,400 in primary and £4,700 in secondary. In fact, headteachers’
salaries can rise as high as £123k or £131k in London. Other
leadership positions, like heads of department or heads of year
also see increased salaries.
Teachers get a 23.6% employer pension contribution,
significantly higher than most professions (according to ONS
data)
Teachers’ pensions are among the best and safest available – and
they come with a 23.6% employer pension contribution. By
contrast, in the private sector 48% of employees receive
an employer contribution of less than 4%. Teacher
contributions start from as little as 7.4% and a maximum of
11.7%.
This table sets out the employer pension contributions and total
remuneration packages at the various average salary points for
teachers and headteachers.
You can read more about teacher pensions here: Teachers’ Pensions – what
you need to know - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk).
Teachers can also benefit from a range of career
development opportunities
We’re investing more and more in teachers’ professional
development. Our reformed initial
teacher training will increase the confidence of those
entering the workforce, supporting longer term retention, and
ultimately raising standards for every child.
Underpinning support for early career teachers is the new ITT
Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework: together,
these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least
three years of evidence-based training, across ITT and
into their induction.
And we’re committed to making sure teachers and school leaders
can continue to develop once they’re established in their careers
too. Last year, almost 30,000 teachers and leaders
started a fully funded National Professional Qualification
(NPQ). NPQs are designed by education experts to build
classroom expertise or develop leadership confidence and are
flexible to fit around teachers’ personal and professional
responsibilities. You can find out more about NPQs in the
NPQ Prospectus.
We’re also continuing to help drive down unnecessary
workload for teachers.
We continue to work with the sector to reduce teacher workload
and improve teacher wellbeing, and work with the profession to
understand and address longstanding issues around marking,
planning and data management. The school workload reduction
toolkit, developed alongside school leaders, is a helpful
resource for schools that can enable them to reduce workload.
How to get into teaching
For those thinking of pursuing a career in teaching, please
visit: Inspire the next generation |
Get Into Teaching GOV.UK (education.gov.uk).
