Financial rewards motivate teachers as well as CEOs

The teaching profession must feel somewhat put upon. Held responsible for educating our children – ensuring they leave school as well-qualified, rounded individuals – teachers are called to account by successive governments, and generally told that the system needs shaking up. Regular changes of policy, imposed from on high, are a teacher’s lot.

Even when exam results improve, critics aren’t happy: it wasn’t so easy in their day, they cry. Then there are those who say that exam success doesn’t equip children with the “soft skills” necessary to make the transition into work. There may, as it happens, be something in that – but teachers could be forgiven for being sick of both sides of the argument.

In this context, some in the profession will seize on the survey by the OECD, which shows that starting salaries for UK teachers are below the OECD average and that salaries fell in real terms by more than 5 per cent between 2008 and 2013. Scant reward for being pulled from pillar to post by government ministers, not to mention troublesome students.

The financial rewards associated with teaching are not vast, although, as the OECD notes, when bonuses and incentives are factored in, the situation improves markedly in their middle years of service. Moreover, salaries are not the be-all and end-all. Consistent policy-making and a feeling among teachers of real engagement with their school and the wider system are arguably more important in the long term.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that recruiting good staff is becoming increasingly problematic in some areas, especially in London, where the cost of living is reaching dizzying heights – and money plays a part. Bonus schemes, especially for those who improve schools with a poor track record, ought to be extended. And George Osborne should think twice before any attempt to squeeze basic salaries.