UK teachers are younger and paid less than in any other developed country, report finds

The UK has more than twice the proportion of teachers aged under 30 than other developed countries, and pay is below the international average at all comparable levels of education, according to a new study.

The average age of the teaching workforce in Britain has fallen since 2005 and nearly one in three primary school teachers (31 per cent) are aged 30 or under, the report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) finds.

This is compared with 13 per cent on average in other OECD countries and economies analysed.

The report also found that statutory salaries for teachers in England and Scotland – with 15 years of experience and the most common qualification – have not recovered to “pre-Great Recession highs”.

In 2018, salaries in England were 10 per cent lower than in 2005. In Scotland, the equivalent deficiency was 3 per cent.

It also found that the UK is one of the few countries that have seen class sizes rise since 2005.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at the OECD, said: “There have been clear cuts and when you make cuts you have to make choices. You cut your teacher salaries, you increase your class sizes.”

He added: “Teachers have moved backwards on pay and on class size so the UK is in the risk quadrant where class sizes have become bigger and teachers are paid less.”

On the UK having the youngest teaching force in primary schools, Mr Schleicher said: “You can look at that as a positive sign in the sense of lots of people who want to move, who are motivated and who are freshly educated with the latest technology.

“But it also signals that a lot of people leave the profession. That’s the downside of it. That actually there is a lot of churn and turnover in this which I think puts the population at risk.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the average age of teachers is low because the nation is “losing far too many teachers from the profession”.

He said: “One of the reasons for this high rate of churn is because the real value of teachers’ pay has declined since 2011 as a result of government-imposed pay austerity.”

The report also revealed that England has the second highest university tuition fees in the developed world – and yet the OECD found the salary premium for UK graduates has declined.

The share of recent graduates who studied engineering, manufacturing and construction has also fallen compared to previous generations.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Schleicher said: “I rather think that the expansion of higher education has come at the expense of quality at the margins.

“There’s a lot of variability in the quality of degrees that employers pick up in the wage signals. That’s something to be careful about.”

He questioned whether universities in the UK are not being “incentivised to tell people the truth”.

“It’s much more convenient to provide a humanities or social sciences course. You make a lot of money with actually very little work [compared to] engineering and construction,” he added.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want the brightest and the best young talent to be drawn to the teaching profession, and the quality of entrants remains at an all-time high, with 19 per cent of the 2018-19 cohort holding a first-class degree, the highest in any of the last five years.

“These young teachers bring vibrancy, new ideas and energy to the classroom, creating an inspiring learning environment for young people.”

They added that this school year, teachers and school leaders are due to get an above-inflation pay rise, with a 2.75 per cent increase to the top and bottom of all pay ranges.

The government has also announced plans to raise teacher starting salaries in England to £30,000 by 2022.