One of the strongest unifying themes to come from lockdown and the pandemic has been how heavily we rely on some professions, and that these professions should be rewarded for their hard work during an enormously difficult time.

From nurses and doctors to supermarket workers and delivery drivers - we all knew how important these roles were but we are now much more aware of how much we rely upon them. Near the top of this list, the importance of teachers has come into sharp focus, with everyone - from parents to politicians to celebrities - praising and thanking teachers and school leaders during the pandemic.

With teachers not receiving an increase in pay in a generation, the announcement of the Department for Education’s 3.1 per cent pay-rise in June 2020 was welcome news after such a difficult time. However, with no such increase announced for those working in further education (and little mention of FE throughout the majority of the pandemic), familiar headlines began to reappear.

The most common of these is generally around the pay margin between FE and school teachers, with a gap of around £9,000 reported (and regularly quoted by college unions).

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But is this figure accurate? In short, no.

First, the figure quoted for school teachers (£40,537 per year) includes the salaries of leaders and managers who have a teaching commitment. As a result, the salary of an assistant headteacher (with a 50 per cent teaching timetable, significant additional responsibility and an annual salary of £52,000+) or deputy headteacher (25 per cent timetable, second only to the headteacher and salary of £65,000 per year) will go towards that £40,537 figure. The mean annual salary of an FE teacher (£32,500) does not include leaders. As a result, the pay gap figures are not comparable.

This is not to say there is not a pay gap: primary (+£3,173) and secondary (+£6,174) teachers still earn more than their counterparts in FE. However, it is important to remember that there are many differences in these sectors.

Having worked in secondary school and FE, there are obvious comparisons but the differences are countless: work experience, apprenticeships, links to employment (and employers), teaching practical elements and the status of English and maths, to name but a handful.

Ignore comparisons: FE staff simply deserve to be paid more

Now, this isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be an increase in FE practitioner pay. Of course there should be. Further education is a special place, providing a truly inclusive range of opportunities for everyone in society. Whether entering FE from school, from the workplace or everywhere in between, FE keeps offering support, guidance and prospects. The staff who facilitate this are truly unique and should be rewarded for the expertise, experience and dedication that they exhibit every day.

But FE teacher pay should increase because of this expertise, experience and dedication, not because school teachers earn more. FE practitioners should be paid more because they should be paid more, not owing to comparisons with other sectors.

You would struggle to find a principal who didn’t want to increase wages but few can find the room in any budget to make this happen. And this should be the headline, not the comparison between schools and colleges. And not just a headline but the main headline, the top story on the news, the priority of everyone who relies on a trade of any sort.

Desperate for a haircut after lockdown? Need an emergency plumber? Problems with your car? Further education is responsible for providing the people and the skills that solve these problems. FE is a unique setting, which isn’t being recognised as regularly as it should be on a national stage.

This should be the focus so that all FE funding is increased because it is not just FE teachers who deserve a pay-rise: middle leaders, learning support assistants, librarians, security guards, cleaners - all staff in FE are deserving of a salary increase, just as all staff in schools are, too.

With many colleges requiring bailouts in the past year, hopefully FE funding will finally be fully addressed in the near future. In the meantime, let’s focus on what makes FE so unique and have this as the reason for salary increases.

Jonny Kay’s book, Improving Maths and English in Further Education: A Practical Guide, is available from 2 June