Call for higher pay for EU teachers

Teaching is not a money-making profession, an EU study has confirmed – and the Maltese are among the worst paid throughout the bloc.

To reach the maximum salary, Maltese teachers must do at least 18 years of service.

The study, published by the European Commission, compared remuneration across public schools of member states. It shows that teacher salaries are generally unattractive, with the Maltese faring worse than many of their counterparts (see table).

During the 2009/10 scholastic year, a teacher at a local kindergarten could expect to gross between €11,375 to €15,933 a year, while at primary or secondary level the pay was between €16,690 and €22,211.

To reach the maximum salary, Maltese teachers must do at least 18 years of service. Those acquiring further qualifications during their profession, such as a Masters degree, are also entitled to an annual qualification allowance of €349 to €932 a year.

Getting a promotion to head a school in Malta does not boost their pay packet by too much either. A public school head received a maximum salary of around €24,000 in 2009/10, topped up with an allowance of between €2,000 and €4,000 annually depending on the number of pupils in the school.

Apart from salaries, the majority of teachers in the EU are also paid for overtime but this does not apply to teachers in Malta, Cyprus, the UK, Romania and Lithuania, according to the report.

The report calls for better salaries to be awarded to teachers in the EU as this is considered to be one of the most important incentives to keep the best people in the profession.

At the beginning of their careers, teachers’ gross basic salaries are lower than national GDP per capita in all countries with the exception of Germany, Spain and Portugal. Only in three countries – Cyprus, Portugal and Romania – is it possible for teachers to double their basic salaries in the course of their career. However, even in these countries, it takes more than 20 years to progress to the top salary scale.

Currently, there are six million teachers employed in the EU.

Maximum salary in 2009/2010 for secondary level teachers