The pay gap between teachers at the beginning and at the height of their careers in England is nearly twice the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average, research shows.

On average in England, teachers’ pay at the top of their salary scales is 152 per cent higher than for those at the start of their careers - at preschool, primary and secondary level, according to a new OECD report.

This is nearly twice the OECD average of 78 to 80 per cent.

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The report, Education at a Glance 2020, published today, analyses the pay gap between teachers with “maximum qualifications” at the top of the salary scale and those with “minimum qualifications”, who are just starting out.

Improving pay for new teachers

“Statutory salaries of teachers (and school heads) in public educational institutions increase with the level of education they teach,” the report says. 

“In most OECD countries and economies, they also increase with experience.

“On average, the statutory salaries of teachers with maximum qualifications at the top of their salary scales are 78 to 80 per cent higher than those of teachers with the minimum qualifications at the start of their career at pre-primary, primary and general lower and upper secondary levels.

“In England and Scotland, maximum salaries are 152 per cent and 33 per cent higher than minimum salaries at each level of education respectively.”

There has been recognition from the Department for Education of the need to raise pay for newly qualified teachers, with an announcement in July that the starting salary for new teachers would rise by 5.5 per cent from September.

This followed warnings last year that newly qualified teachers could “hop off the bus” after their training to go into higher-paid private sector jobs.