Teachers Pay Strike

The National Union of Teachers, England's biggest teachers union, have voted for a one day strike arguing pay should increase more than the government is prepared to offer. BBC News.

What does the research say on the issue of pay? One report I recently read on the worlds best school systems, by Mckinsey & Co. found that starting salary's were attractive but not more than the average: all but one of the best school systems had a starting salary within the narrow window of 95-99% of GDP per capita. They cite Recent rises to England's teaching starting salary having a large effect on teacher recruitment (a 10% rise resulted in 30% more applicants). However, referring to other countries, it was found that once salary's exceed the national average there is little effect on the number of applicants. The report shows that England's starting salary is currently 96% of GDP per capita. However, some figures indicate that the teaching salary is behind the average graduate starting salary (although it depends what figures you read).

The likihood is that salary's are probably just about good enough, although how long this will remain with inflation and average wages increasing faster than the government's pay offer remains to be seen.