I’ve a lot of teacher friends I speak to regularly. I also read blogs written by teachers and check in with their ongoing discussions on various social media platforms.
As you’d expect, the teacher community is constantly discussing ways to become better at their job. No surprise there–when it comes to their vocation, teachers are notoriously obsessive.
Most of the conversation has to do with how to be better educators. How to make math formulas more memorable, how to impress the importance of scientific concepts, how to make English literature come alive without resorting to showing movies…things like that.
But lately I’ve noticed another subject becoming increasingly prominent in the conversation: the inability to get paid a sufficient salary.
The Problem of Pay
No matter where a given teacher lives, what grade level they teach or even how well-funded their school might be, they are likely to be underpaid. This is a sad but true fact. Anecdotally, it seems like most teachers are struggling to pay the bills and support their families.
But what do the numbers say? Is it possible there’s a group of teachers out there somewhere who are living it up, living high on the hog- as our US friends say ? Is it only the underpaid teachers who are speaking out?
A 2016 study published by the Economic Policy Institute in the U.S. sheds light on some of these questions.
According to this study, the average weekly pay of public-sector teachers decreased by $30 between 1996 and 2015.
Falling Wages = Failing Careers
Let’s take a minute to unpack that statistic.
Professionals can typically expect a 3-5% standard of living raise each year. Over twenty years, if we take the low end of the range, it would be fair to say an average worker should be making 60% more than they did in year one.
If our hypothetical worker made $1,000 per week during year one, after 20 years with a (modest) 3% wage increase each year, they would be making $1,600 per week.
In reality, this study shows that same worker, if he or she is a teacher, is making $970 per week.
How about looking at it this way:
If you were applying for a job and the boss said that if you stay with the company for 20 years and perform solidly well, you’ll make a little less than you would on Day #1, would you take the job?
Of course you wouldn’t.
The same study found that for all public-sector teachers, the relative wage gap has grown from -1.8 percent in 1994 to a record -17.0 percent in 2015.
This means that as other professions are paying their employees more each year, teachers’ wages are stagnating or decreasing.
As we step into 2019, we as teachers are confronting a record-level wage gap. National and local governments couldn’t be any clearer about their priorities with regards to teacher salaries. They’re not interested. They’ve been proving this for the last 20 years.
Do It for Love…But Get Paid What You Deserve
You might be thinking, “But Deany, I’m a teacher. I know how little we’re paid, but this is my job, my career. I love teaching and there’s nothing else I can see myself doing.”
But what if you could stay in the education profession, doing what you love, but get paid much more? What if you could live wherever you want and still do what you love to do?
If you’re fed up with the lack of respect shown to teachers as evidenced by lower and lower salaries as other professions pay their workers more and more, you’re certainly not alone. But I’m here to tell you there are options.
It’s time to make 2019 the year you start to make more money. This can be the year you do something to change the trajectory of your career. You have the power to be who you want to be and use your talents in a new way, one that allows you the freedom to take control of your finances and work schedule once and for all.
Sign up soon for “How To Tutor Online,” my course that will show you everything you need to know to run your own online tutoring business. You can be the boss of a business that has been proven to turn teachers like you into successful business owners. And not just any business. This is a platform that connects teacher and student through a learning process that facilitates education without locational constraints.
My course shows you how to teach only the subjects you love in classes sized to your preference. (You don’t hear that too much in traditional schools!)
I’ll help you design your own dream teaching career with easy to follow modules that you can complete on your own schedule.
“How To Tutor Online” is a course designed by me for teachers like you. I’ve been in your shoes. I understand where you’re coming from and I want to help you get where you want to be… in a career that not only satisfies you personally, but financially.
Make 2019 the year you start getting paid what you’re worth. Click here to watch the Masterclass- I’m looking forward to showing you a new way to be the teacher you always wanted to be.